


It Was You

by Lunar_L



Series: Truth and Honesty [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, Light Sin, Marichat, Marichat May 2017, but restricted to one chapter with warnings, first time sexual experiences, lots of teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-05 03:34:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 40,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11005116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunar_L/pseuds/Lunar_L
Summary: Chat begins to visit Marinette and they forge a friendship which slowly begins to become a little more. A little more becomes a something more important.Something I'm completing for MariChat May 2017. I took all 31 prompts for each day and worked the drabble for each into one fic by putting the prompts out of order.The prompts I used for each chapter will be in the notes at the END of the chapter to avoid spoiling anything.





	1. You're Upset

**Author's Note:**

> I have not completed all of the prompts yet and some of them are being temporarily dropped to try and get back on track with the others. As a result this may not update steadily until some of the earlier chapters and completed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat is feeling very guilty and decides to drop in on Marinette to see if he can make her and himself feel better.

Chat Noir's heart felt heavy as he made his way towards her home over the rooftops. He knew logically that he shouldn't feel guilty for simply telling the truth this afternoon, but he really hated the idea of hurting anyone as unintentional as it was. As he finally reached towards the edge of the rooftop which looked directly onto Marinette's balcony he could hear the telltale sniffles betraying to him that she'd been crying recently. He glanced over the wall separating the roof from her part of the building and spied her sitting on her lounge chair, knees tucked up to her chest and face buried in her knees. He dropped down onto her railing, startling the poor girl so badly she came extremely close to unseating herself entirely and falling to theconcrete ground below her.

“Oh, I'm sorry Princess. Didn't mean to frighten you,” he said, “but I was passing and you sounded sort of upset. Is...is there anything I can do?”

“Chat Noir?” she asked, confused. She sniffed loudly and wiped quickly at her eyes before continuing. “Anything you can...? No, there's nothing you can do. But thanks. I'm just...being silly,” she told him before glancing away at where her feet were propped up and trying in vain not to sniff again.

He could tell from her body language that she didn't want him to pry any further and in this case he didn't need to, not really. Not when he'd been the reason behind her misery after all. Once again he cast about in the back of his mind for any other way he could've reacted when the girl in front of him had approached him at school today.  
He'd had no idea Marinette liked him as anything more than a friend. So when she'd nervously admitted to him that she's had a crush on him for some time now and that she was hoping they could be more than what they currently were, he'd been completely unsure how to react.  
He'd had to turn her down, obviously. He loved his Lady and he was still holding out hope that she'd love him back someday. Considering the fact that she flirted back with him, there was a very good chance of that if he just held out for it.  
But the way Marinette had physically drooped when he'd told her that he was flattered, but liked someone else had been distressing to watch. He'd apologised too, although he knew he couldn't control how he felt about her and then she'd gone and been so nice about it despite how he could tell he was breaking her heart. That's why he'd decided he had to check on her once he was sure no one was going to bother him in his room at home.

“You're upset,” he said to her, “And it doesn't look like you think you're really being silly about it...Need a hug?”

She glanced up at him, her eyes watering and teeth worrying her bottom lip as she weighed up her options.

“Yes please,” she finally whispered, tears starting to fall again instantly.

Chat spent the next several hours laying on the lounger with her as she cried into his chest. He patted and rubbed her back soothingly and made comforting shushing noises as every sob she made tore into his chest and made him ache with the guilt of what he'd done to her.

Eventually her sobs died down to agitated sniffles again and he continued to hold her and rub her back until she moved to look at him.

“Thanks Chat,” she said clearly, as even her breathing had returned to a normal pace, “I think I needed that.”

“Anytime Princess,” he told her as she sat up and moved away from him. He gave her a pained smile as he stood and backed away from her slowly, towards the edge of her balcony.

“Until next time,” he told her before disappearing into the steadily darkening evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 18: Rejection


	2. Upgrade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette thinks over the routine visits Chat has started making to her house.

 Marinette opened her skylight door and looked out onto her balcony. It was already eight o'clock and there was still no sign of Chat Noir, which was strange. Since he'd fist stumbled across her crying he'd taken to visiting every Friday night and much more recently, a second time during the week as well. The first couple of visits had been in the days immediately after she'd been turned down by Adrien and feeling fragile. She had felt, and still did feel, super touched that Chat had been worried about her enough to check on her for those first three days. When he'd been abruptly absent on the fourth day she'd assumed that had been it and that she was unlikely to see him again as her civilian self. But that had proved completely untrue when two days later he was back begging forgiveness for his absence and telling her his life had gotten suddenly hectic enough to be difficult to escape.

She had nervously told him he didn't need to check on her anymore, frightened that he felt obligated in some way. She was doing okay now, she had told him. He'd been unusually sheepish looking after that and his voice had been so quiet when he admitted he was enjoying spending time with her. And if she was honest with herself, she was thoroughly enjoying his company as well.

If she'd told herself forty days ago that she'd be wondering what was keeping Chat from appearing on her balcony on a Friday night, she had no doubt she'd have laughed herself hoarse. It was so odd that in such a short time that dumb cat had come to be an important part of her life both in and out of her mask. And now her balcony was no longer just a balcony. It was their space; it was their place to hang out.

She dipped back down into her room and quickly dropped down her ladder, heading for her trapdoor to the rest of her home.

“Marinette!” her mother said from where she sat on the couch, a smile splitting her face as she turned to see her daughter heading into the kitchen, “I thought we'd have to give up on seeing you on Friday nights from now on dear. Aren't you busy on the phone with Alya again?”

“Yeah Mama,” she replied, face turning a delicate shade of pink at the mention of her regular lie to explain away the vague noise her parents had commented on before. Noise which was instead her and Chat chatting quietly, “She seems to be running late with her call this week is all.”

“Maybe you should have her over for a sleepover a day early then. I'm surprised you have anything more to talk about, considering you spend all Friday talking and all Saturday shopping or whatever you kids do, before she stays over.”

Marinette glanced at her mother as she started to place snacks on a plate in front of her. She was wearing a smirk on her face. A very specific smirk that she only wore when she knew something. Or at least when she thought she knew something. Usually it meant she was aware something was up or untoward but hadn't yet connected all the dots so couldn't outright accuse her daughter of anything. She did her best to keep her face blank.

“That's an awful lot of cookies, even for a growing girl like you dear.”

Marinette looked down at the plate she'd filled with cookies of different kinds. It did appear to be a large amount for one person, but then she wasn't planning on eating them all alone.

“Um, it's a craving mama,” she said, face flushing, “I'd probably eat twice as much if I thought you'd let me.”

“Well then you better take up this thermos of tea I made for you. Just one mug dear?” her mother smirked again. Marinette gulped at the unspoken insinuation.

“Yes mama. One mug.” She had another in her room anyway.

 

* * *

 

By the time Chat arrived nearly an hour and a half late, she was freezing sitting outside waiting for him in only her pyjamas and a light blanket bundled around her.

“I'm sorry,” he apologised, “I got held up by regular me stuff and couldn't get away.” He appeared to take in her shivering form and paled beneath his mask. “Oh _Dieu,_ Marinette, you're freezing! Do you want me to go, so you can go warm up inside?”

She glared at him from her blanket cocoon but there was no real venom in the look and she hoped he could tell. “Actually Kitty, I was going to suggest you come inside. It's been getting colder for a couple weeks now and hanging out on the balcony isn't gonna last much longer. We need to adapt.”

“I-Inside? In your room?”

“Yeah, come on it's warm and I have a thermos full of tea to share.”

His sudden grin could have split the darkness, it was so bright. Clearly he loved the idea of being upgraded from the balcony to her room. Unfortunately it was going to make a getaway harder when the inevitable time came where her mama caught them hanging out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 17: Balcony Visits


	3. Conceal The Spots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette gets trapped as herself during an attack at the school. Her knight comes to her rescue.

Watching Chat Noir battle an akuma alone in the girls locker room was not something Marinette expected to be doing today.

For PE, her class had been mixed with another from their year and grouped based on their athletic abilities. Class had ended and most people had changed and left, leaving just a small group of girls reapplying make-up and trickling back into the school as they finished. In hindsight she felt that if she hadn't been so vain and then she wouldn't have been caught in this predicament.

She had heard the tail-end of Chloé's typical behaviour as she criticised one of the girls from the other class on her make-up style and exclaimed loudly about how she thought inexpensive foundation was just nasty. Marinette had just been making her way over to scold Chloé when the girl had run past, mascara streaking down her face. It had been record breaking how quickly the first screams outside had started after that. Most akuma needed about five minutes at least to change and start their rampage.

Just as Marinette was working out how she was going to ditch Alya to transform, the Cosmetic Queen had burst in screeching about reducing Chloé and anyone else in her way to the same “cheap, tacky” make-up they mocked. She opened a compact and blew powder towards the girls, Juleka and a girl Marinette didn't recognise getting the worst of it to the face. Juleka gave a noise of confusion as she suddenly changed into a giant handheld mirror and the other girl became a 5'3” mascara wand.

The Cosmetic Queen advanced on them as Marinette stepped in front, arms outstretched in a futile attempt to guard the others, when the door was flung open all of a sudden and Chat Noir charged the akuma, using his momentum from kicking open the door to attack with gusto.

Marinette used the distraction to her advantage, pushing Alya forward to lead the way before encouraging the other girls to follow her as they inched their way around the akuma and Chat, staying flat to the wall to avoid becoming targets.

“But I didn't even _do_ anything,” Chloé said, starting to make a huge fuss about how her comments on the girls make-up had been _helpful_ and Marinette groaned, planting her arms on the girls shoulders and pushing her along the wall, less than gentle when Chloé resisted.

They had made it about three quarters of the way around when Alya suddenly shouted in alarm, “Marinette! Look out!”

She turned to see the akuma turning away from Chat, who was on his hands and knees and attempting to shake some sense back into himself. She moved towards Chloé and Marinette saw her open her compact. She shoved Chloé towards the exit, leaning back and letting herself fall backwards to the floor to avoid the cloud of dust that suddenly swirled at them both.

“Go!” she yelled at the girls huddled in the doorway watching, “I'll be right behind you!” Chloé wasted no time in turning heel and running but Alya was a lot more hesitant till one of the others grabbed her by the hem of her shirt and pulled her away. She'd have to thank that girl later when everything had been taken care of.

The akuma was now in the way of the door but her attention was once again on Chat who had taken a swing at her with his baton while Marinette had been encouraging the others to run to safety.

Marinette got to her feet quickly and weighed up her options. She could inch her way around the walls like before, but she'd need to go in the opposite direction to stay away from the battle in front of her – no, that would take too long. She could run for the bathrooms behind her and transform but she couldn't escape from there without giving away her identity as the windows had been painted shut recently. She could -

She cut off her train of thought as she saw the akuma shine a reflection into Chat's eyes with her mirror, distracting him. She lifted her compact and pointed it at his face, taking a deep breath to blow magic powder on him.

Marinette reacted on instinct and launched herself at Chat, pushing him to the ground where they rolled to avoid the cloud of powder engulfing where he'd been just a moment ago. As they rolled she heard the Cosmetic Queen roar in annoyance and stalk through the door in search of Chloé to finish her revenge.

They finally came to a stop on the tiled floor and without an imminent attack to distract her, Marinette became painfully aware of their intimate position. She was stretched out on her back, Chat laying over her, his head hovering above hers and their noses almost touching. This had happened before, of course, but Marinette was usually wearing her spots at the time and before now there had always been a loud akuma to focus on instead of the crippling silence of the locker room around them.

She could see he was blushing almost as vividly as she felt she was and she made an embarrassing squeak in the back of her throat when he shifted to his knee to give himself leverage to get up. He held out his hand to help her up too and she took it, neither of them making eye contact for a moment or two until they were upright.

Chat cleared his throat loudly. She turned to look at him and although he still had a faint dusting of pink beneath his mask he seemed to have returned to his normal playful self.

“Thanks Princess,” he said, hands on his hips and a small smirk appearing as he spoke, “I guess I owe you one now. What can I do to make it up to you?”

Marinette blinked for a moment at his _almost_ flirty attitude, as she tried to remember that she had to react like Marinette right now and not Ladybug, despite this feeling a lot more like battle banter between them than whatever it actually was.

“Pick up Indian food on your way over tonight,” she finally said, “I've been craving it for days.”

Chat looked at her for a second before he burst out laughing. “Sure thing,” he said, “Any requests?”

Marinette smiled at him, “Surprise me Kitty. But right now, you need to go get that akuma.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 24: "I owe you one..."


	4. Don't Scare Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is attacked on her way home and all is very nearly lost.

 

Marinette sighed heavily as she walked along the street towards home. After the Cosmetic Queen's attack yesterday she'd been hoping to get a quiet night tonight. But she needed to finish that French Literature project by Friday, and so her and Alya had holed themselves up in Alya's bedroom and worked far harder than they usually did on homework. At least she could look forward to a break once she got home.

She wasn't expecting Chat to stop by tonight since she had seen him just last night when he dropped in, as promised, with an enormous amount of Indian food. He'd claimed he had no idea what she'd like and had gotten enough to feed five people in order to increase his chances of bringing her favourites. She'd been gob smacked when she realised he'd even bought from _Muniyandi Vilas_ , her favourite restaurant.

So now she was now looking forward to a night of staring at her computer screen and eating leftovers straight from the containers, manners be damned.

She was so lost in her own mind that she didn't hear the sounds of running until the man behind her was already grabbing at her purse and trying to run off with it.

“Hey!” she yelled at him, grabbing onto the purse and pulling back so hard she thought he might wrench her arm from it's socket. If he did steal her purse all he'd get for his trouble was a handful of cookies but Tikki was also inside so she couldn't let go no matter what.

The man was clearly stronger than her and would definitely win this struggle so she had to get someone to notice what was happening, and quickly before she lost her kwami to him.

“Help! Help!” she screeched, whipping her head around to look out for someone, anyone nearby. Curtains twitched but no one made a move to come to her rescue.

She struggled for a few moments but she could feel herself weakening. There was a siren off in the background somewhere but if it was the help she desperately needed, it was going to arrive too late to make a difference.

This was it. _Dieu_ , if she didn't have Tikki anymore, she didn't know what she'd do. She certainly couldn't be Ladybug anymore but besides that she'd be losing a friend. One who _Dieu_ knew what would happen to once this potential pyschopath discovered she didn't have any money in her purse.

She couldn't lose her. She _couldn't_. There was only one thing for it; she was going to have to transform to save her and face the consequences later.

Just as she was about to yell her transformation phrase, the thief grabbed a pocket knife from his coat and slashed at the purse strap she was clinging to. It frayed and snapped instantly and Marinette felt a burn of pain across her arm where the knife had also made brief contact with her skin.

She watched helplessly as he turned and fled from her, purse with Tiki inside in his hand. She might have sunk to her knees and cried right then, siren wailing in her head, if the thief hadn't suddenly crumpled to the pavement a few feet in front of her.

It took her a second to put the pieces together and by the time she identified the silver baton lying next to him, Chat Noir had dropped down from the rooftops and was leaning over her attacker. As he picked up her purse and handed it back to her, a police car spun around the corner and the siren cut off as two gendarmes jumped out, checking the thief for damage and declaring him to be stunned, not even quite unconscious.

Marinette's relief was short lived and she tensed as it suddenly dawned on her that the gendarmes would want a statement and probably question why she had clung to her purse so determinedly. There would be no easy way to answer and even less chance to keep Tikki hidden while they inevitably wanted to photograph her purse as evidence.

It was stupid but she turned and ran in panic as the gendarmes shouted after her. She flew around the corner and into a nearby alley, watching from behind a dumpster as one of the men dashed straight past her hiding place. Marinette allowed herself a moment to weep over how close she had come to losing the little kwami, who futilely tried to comfort her. After she had calmed down considerably, she wiped the tears from her eyes and decided to transform to head home, to avoid being found by a gendarme looking the way she did right now.

* * *

 

Once Marinette was safely near home and detransformed, she walked the last street to the side door into her home. Taking a deep breathe and hiding her arm behind her back before heading into living room, she quickly gave her parents an excuse in order to head straight upstairs. She had only just begun to treat her cut when her skylight was flung open and Chat bounded in and down her steps to sit by her side on the chaise.

“Don't you usually knock?” she joked to him, wincing as she patted an antiseptic wipe over her wound.

“You're hurt!” he said in genuine shock, glancing at the tiny mark on her forearm and taking it in his hands to examine it more closely.

“It's just a scratch, Chat,” she told him as she became uncomfortably warm from his proximity.

He took the wipe from her hand and continued where she had stopped cleansing the gash before looking through the first aid box beside her for a dressing and bandage.

He glanced up at her periodically as he worked, one eyebrow raised, and she could tell he was itching to ask her something.

“Just go ahead and say it,” she said.

He finished first, gently patting her bandaged arm before sitting upright and looking at her guarded expression properly.

“Why did you run away from the gendarmes?” he asked.

“I...I felt stupid. I should have let him have my bag but I didn't,” she lied, “And I didn't want to explain this to Maman and Papa. They'd worry and I might not be allowed to go out to Alya's or anywhere else again.”

It was a half truth. Her parents would worry. They'd place tighter restrictions on her but it wouldn't last long. Not that she really wanted to try juggling being Ladybug with concerned parents despite that.

“I guess...I can understand that,” he said after a lengthy pause, his face darkened in thought, “I told them I didn't know who you were by the way; you didn't seem to want them talking to you. I gave a statement so he should be held and they say he's got a warrant out for him so you don't need to testify to keep him off the streets or anything.”

Marinette let out a deep breath in relief. She'd been worried about him pushing her to report the attack officially and she didn't want that guy free to mug someone else so to hear he'd dealt with it alleviated her concerns.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling shyly, “for everything. Saving me, lying to the gendarmes, bandaging me up. All of it.”

“Do me a favour?” he asked, taking her hand in his clawed one, “Don't scare me like that again? Please?” It sounded like he was pleading. She was once again stirred by how much he cared about her. She watched him for a moment before she answered.

“Only if you promise to help me eat those leftovers from last night,” she told him, her smile widening and head nodding to the pile of take-out boxes on her desk.

She wasn't sure how to feel about the pleasant dip in the pit of her stomach when he tightened his hold on her hand and smiled back at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 30: Scratch
> 
> You would not believe how much I made myself crave Indian food when writing this. I ended up ordering in enough for two people the night I finished this one lol.
> 
> Also, if you cared enough to check, yes that is a REAL Parisian Indian restaurant. I am sad enough to research that thoroughly.


	5. A More Appropriate Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette brings up pastries for snacking on and Chat realises she forgot to bring something to wash it down with.

 

It had been nearly two months since Marinette had admitted to him that her mother knew _something_ was up. Apparently they'd been too noisy when they chatted or played video games and she'd also started noticing those nights when Marinette barely ate anything (because he'd promised to bring food over and she was saving room for it). She kept implying that she knew Marinette had company from time to time but she never did anything to prove her suspicions. Lately it was a constant worry of his Princess's that her maman would catch Chat in her room.

He knew logically he should have backed off for a while. Maybe he could have suggested they hang out somewhere else? Where though? He had no idea since he could hardly invite her back to his room without giving away that he was the same boy she was uncomfortably avoiding at school. Well, had been avoiding until recently.

She had always remained friendly after he'd turned her down but clearly being around him had made things a little too fresh and painful for her and she'd done her best not to be around him too often. Though that had changed in the last few days, maybe a week at a push. They had started hanging out as a group again, with Alya and Nino as a buffer, and just yesterday she had teased him directly on having an awful sense of humour.

He thought that perhaps she was starting to get over him. He wasn't sure why that made him feel uncomfortable and squirmy in the pit of his stomach.

The bottom line was he didn't want Marinette putting up that distance with Chat the way she had been with Adrien and so they were stuck hanging out in her bedroom until they came up with a better plan.

He glanced up from his place on her chaise and looked around the room for the hundredth time to give himself something to do while he waited on her returning to her room from the kitchen. His eyes drifted over the blank space above her desk where he could see the familiar rectangular shapes of lighter coloured wallpaper – she had obviously hung something there until a few months ago. His cat ears drooped as he remembered asking her about the spaces before. She had told him it was just leftover from the posters of her celebrity crush; “It was nothing important,” she'd said. He hadn't quite believed her fake smile. He wasn't completely stupid, he knew they'd probably been his posters. But he hadn't been able to let her know he knew that, and so had jokingly asked if they'd been Chat Noir posters. He'd even flexed for her like an idiot. The snickers she'd made at that had both lifted his spirits and bruised his ego all in one.

His ears pricked back up as her trapdoor opened and she climbed through, carrying a truly outrageous amount of cookies and pastries for them to snack on. She had barely placed the tray on her desk before he scurried over and sat on the edge of it, grabbing a croissant and devouring a piece greedily.

“ _Dieu_ , Chat. Don't you eat anywhere else?” she asked him, face full of mock outrage.

“Why would I when I get fed so well here?” he told her through a mouthful of pastry. He nearly choked as he spoke and so reached for a drink to clear his throat with before he realised there wasn't any on the tray.

“Umm, Marinette, didn't you say you would bring up soda?” he asked, brow furrowed as he tried to remember if she'd actually said so or if it was just wishful thinking on his part.

“ _Merde,_ ” she said, “I forgot. Sorry Kitty.”

“'S okay,” he said honestly, trying to swallow the food in his mouth without concentrating on how dry his mouth felt or how the flaky pieces of pastry were sticking to his throat.

“Besides,” he added, “between these treats and your company, I think I should avoid further sweet things or I'll end up with diabetes.” He waggled his eyebrows beneath his mask to create the most classic Chat Noir moment he could in full effect.

The unimpressed pout she was giving him dropped suddenly as the sound of her trapdoor opening reached her. Both her and Chat turned to look for the source of the noise and froze as her mother's head appeared. She was quickly followed by the rest of her body, carrying a tray with two glasses of cool milk on it, condensation dripping down the outside of each. She walked straight past Marinette and placed the tray immediately next to the first one, right beside where Chat was seated on her desk, legs dangling over the edge. She looked up at him.

“The chairs or the chaise are for sitting dear, not the desk,” she said kindly.

He scrambled to his feet in front of her. “Yes Madame,” he said, standing upright awkwardly with half a croissant still in his hand.

“Please, call me Sabine,” she told him, affectionately ruffling his hair and also his cat ears in the process. She half-turned to Marinette with a vaguely evil-looking and smug smile on her face that clearly said, _“We will talk about this later.”_ If she was trying to be discreet about her silent message, she was failing miserably because Chat could read that subtext in the air.

“I thought you should be drinking something a bit better for you than coffee or soda,” she told the stupefied girl in front of her, “since you're both eating so many sweets lately. It can't be good for your teeth.

“Plus,” she added, glancing at the boy beside her, “I thought milk would be a more appropriate drink for your guest.”

Both Marinette and Chat hunched visibly in guilt from being caught hanging out so obviously. He kept waiting for her to drop her smile and tear into the two of them, to ban him from ever visiting again, to ground Marinette – anything would have made more sense to him than this. But she seemed more pleased with herself at having finally caught them than annoyed that he was here.

She smiled at them both and moved back to the trapdoor, descending until only her head was left, that delighted smirk haunting them as she reached to close the door over.

“Marinette,” she said just before she disappeared completely, “you should invite your boyfriend to spend some time downstairs next time. You father and I would love to meet him properly.”

The door closed. He couldn't see Marinette's face but he was sure she was just as red as he was at her mother's parting comment.

“ _MAMAN_!” she spluttered out loudly after a moment. She looked entirely mortified. She buried her hands in her face and let out a groan of embarrassment.

He couldn't help himself. He started to laugh.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 1: Milk


	6. The Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat and Marinette take advantage of the fact that his visits are no longer a secret from her parents and make use of the kitchen.

He couldn't help but be hyper-aware of Sabine watching them from her place on the couch. She was clearly trying to be subtle but he couldn't ignore the way her eyes glanced up over her book at them every few minutes.

“Concentrate _Chaton_!” Marinette chided him again as he slopped some of the batter mixture over the edge of the bowl and onto the floor. She crouched to clean it up and he desperately tried not to drop any more, lest he get it on her hair or clothes.

“Sorry,” he told her with a sheepish grin, placing the bowl back on the counter as she moved out of the way, “How are you so good at this? It's hard.”

“They're just cupcakes Chat,” she told him, one eyebrow raised as she spoke, “ Besides, I've been making these since I was like, five.”

“Four dear,” her mother amended without looking up.

“What are you _doing here_ _mama?_ ” Marinette seethed at her mother after what felt like hours (but was really only 10 minutes or so) of ignoring her, “It's ten o'clock. Don't you need to help Papa downstairs tomorrow?”

“The new employee is ready to take over for a while so your father insisted I start later tomorrow. Too many cooks or something,” she chuckled, “So I don't need an early night tonight.”

Chat awkwardly glanced between the two ladies as Marinette let out an irritated sigh before finally, _finally_ seeming to accept her mothers presence and relax.

It was his first visit since Marinette's maman had found him in her room three days ago and he'd been overjoyed when his Princess had asked if he wanted to hang out downstairs.

Since her parents now knew he came by on Fridays, she'd said, why not make use of the rest of the house? Her parents always had to go to bed early so they could spent a great deal of time playing video games on the flat-screen television, which he thought was a far superior gaming experience than her computer monitor. She had teased him relentlessly over his loses and then when she'd asked what he wanted to eat, he'd remembered those awesome cupcakes she'd brought to school the day before and asked about cake.

He remembered how adorable he'd found the way her nose had scrunched up as she told him she didn't have any cake unless she raided the bakery kitchen, and then immediately pushed that thought away now as he had when it first occurred to him.

Since she didn't have any cupcakes she'd offered to make some and he'd eagerly asked if he could help. He'd never baked before - at least not that he could remember, and everyone always talked about how much fun it was to do things like that.

It had been a messy experience measuring out ingredients and he kept having to refer to the recipe on her phone (one she never even glanced at as she weighed out flour and sugar) but it was fun. They'd been laughing at the amount of flour he'd gotten in his hair when the front door opened and her mother had walked in, said hello to them with a smirk and then gotten comfortable on the couch with a book.

He'd frozen in place while Marinette's face had turned an odd shade of puce, her expression fiery and very clearly Pissed Off with capital letters. She'd forced herself to return to normal, and encouraged him to continue mixing ingredients together, but she had kept shooting her mother dirty looks every time the woman glanced up at them until she had now finally acknowledged her presence with words.

Now that she seemed a little deflated and more at peace with the situation, he chose to let the tension in his shoulders drop, just a little. He did his best to finish spooning mixture into the cupcake cases on the baking tray and Marinette checked them over for him. After redistributing some of the mixture between cases, she declared them good enough for the oven.

“Good job Kitty,” she told him as he closed the oven door and his face beamed with pride at her praise.

“Thanks Princess!” he said enthusiastically, but his smile stiffened when he spotted Sabine's smirk at his use of her nickname. Ah, that was right. She seemed to think they were dating. He felt his chest constrict with anxiety and discomfort and...something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.

“I guess we can go hang out in my room or something while we wait for them to cook,” Marinette said, glancing awkwardly at her mother.

“Not to worry dear,” Sabine said suddenly, making Chat jump as she slammed her book shut, hands curling in front of his chest defensively, “I can take a hint. I'll head off to bed now.”

She stood and moved around the couch to the bookcase, depositing her book on one of the shelves before turning to look straight past the girl at the counter, and directly at him instead. His hands curled tighter as if he expected her to attack him.

“Marinette usually joins her father and me right after dinner on a Monday and we all do something together,” she told him, moving forward to stand closer to both him and Marinette, “If you can come over early enough you should join us.”

He blinked in disbelief. Had...had he just been invited to spend time with them as a family? He looked to Marinette to interpret how she felt about this sudden turn of events but he was surprised to see her just staring at her mother, open mouthed and looking just as shocked as he was. He turned his head back to Sabine as she patiently waited for his answer.

“I swear we don't bite,” she added, chuckling a little.

“Umm, sure. I think I can manage that,” he told her, a small smile making it's way onto his face. His arms and hands loosened considerably and dropped back to his sides.

“Good,” she said, her smile expanding cheerily, “Although I won't blame you if you opt out. It's just scrabble next time. I hear that can be boring for teenagers?” She rolled her eyes at Marinette obviously as the girl pouted at her in return.

“Uh, no scrabble is fine,” he told her, “I, uh, don't think I've ever actually played though, so...I won't be very good.”

“Papa is a scrabble master,” Marinette added with a soft smile, “He can help you at first.”

“Great, it's settled then,” Sabine clasped her hands together.

“Goodnight kids,” she said before turning and heading out the door for the level below.

“Did your maman really just ask me to join family game night?” he asked after as moment.

“Yup,” she said, making the 'p' pop when she spoke, “But I bet they're unbearable. They didn't believe me when I told them that we're, uh, not a couple. They'll tease us horribly.”

He blushed a little at that but hid it as best he could by raising an eyebrow and shooting her a huge smirk as he leant on the counter nonchalantly.

“Yeah, but who's going to be more embarrassed about that, me or you?” he challenged. Marinette stuck her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“You want to bet on it Kitty?” she said.

“You're so on,” he told her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 27: Baking


	7. The Bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat returns for a game of Scrabble with the Dupain-Chengs and discovers Marinette's parents are not merciful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I want to say that this is the prompt I wanted to write the most. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it and I got so excited I made graphics to go with it to help you all visualise the game. I got so impatient writing this because I wanted to get to the punch line already!
> 
> I couldn't get the imbedding to work so I've linked my images instead.

As Chat listened to the rules for Scrabble, he decided this was definitely going to be an easy win. Not necessarily an easy win at Scrabble, since he'd never played before and had absolutely no idea how to take advantage of all these double letter and triple word score squares, but Marinette was absolutely going to be more embarrassed than him before the night was done.

She'd taken his challenge stubbornly, insisting that she could hold it together under her parents incorrect teasing. She was so sure he'd be humiliated into silence before she was, she'd made that the penance for losing. Whoever lost could not talk for a whole hour. Couldn't tease or defend against teasing. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy winning this one.

As soon as he'd arrived at her skylight, much earlier than usual, she'd told him to brace himself and accompanied him down to the main room. Once there her parents immediately moved from the counter where they were clearing away dinner dishes and setting up the board to greet him. Marinette's maman had reached him first, her hands either side of his face, pulling him down to her level so she could place a kiss on each of his cheeks. As he was still spiralling from her casual familiarity with him, Marinette's papa stepped in and gripped him in an enormous bear hug, which might have been painful from a man of his size, had Chat not been wearing his suit. He'd barely gotten a hello out to them before the teasing started, no mercy offered.

First of all, they'd ceased all attempts he made to call them M. Dupain and Mme Cheng, with a flick of a hand as they insisted he use their names. Sabine had implied they could be family in the not too distant future and said it was therefore unnecessary and downright silly to stay so formal. Chat's face had burned a little, which was thankfully hidden by his mask, and Marinette had rolled her eyes behind her mothers back as he reminded them that Marinette and he were just friends.

“Suuure,” Tom had said with an exaggerated wink at him. Marinette had squirmed in place and blushed faintly and though she'd tried to do so discreetly, he's noticed.

“Papa...” she'd whined.

“Why Princess, you're not getting embarrassed already are you?” he'd smirked at her and delighted at the glare of determination she immediately threw at him.

“You wish _Chaton_.”

It hadn't gotten any better from there for either of them, especially since Sabine loved to coo over their nicknames for one another, but he was surprisingly good at appearing to keep his cool despite the uncomfortable wriggling in his gut every time they alluded to something. Marinette however was looking more and more distressed as time wore on. And they hadn't even started playing yet.

So now they had settled at the table, Chat a little awkwardly as he and Marinette had no choice but to sit at a table corner each to leave room for her parents on either side of the them. The table was only really meant for three after all, but they could make it work. Tom explained to him that they would all take a letter from the bag of tiles and try and see who got the letter closest to A in the alphabet; this would decide who went first. They each took a little wooden square from the cloth bag sitting in the middle of the board and Sabine won first turn with the letter _**B**_ and a soft victorious smile. He watched as she and Marinette picked out seven tiles each and discreetly hid them on their angled stands before handing the bag on to him.

As Chat took his turn choosing his tiles he started to consider if there was any way he could tease Marinette himself to make sure he won. It would mean her parents would have a field day and he'd get some of the mocking too, but he was sure he could wait till he got home to hide his face in his pillow and relive every mortifying detail against his will before he finally fell asleep tonight. Plagg would cackle and quote them while he pretended not to hear.

He passed the bag on to Tom and waited whilst Sabine studied her tiles before she started to pour them all back into the bag and select new ones.

“You're allowed to use a turn to swap tiles instead of putting down a word,” she explained to him, when she spotted his confused expression, “We all usually swap our tiles on our first turn before we start, but it's up to you if you want to do the same.”

“The game is over if you swap your tiles two turns in a row though,” Tom added as an afterthought.

Marinette followed suit and swapped out her own tiles as well and, realising he couldn't make anything with what he had anyway, Chat chose to do the same. Tom continued the trend and as he arranged his tiles on his stand, his eyes flicked to the two teenagers with a smirk.

“Are you sure you're both comfortable like that?” he asked, referring to their positions at the corners of the counter-top, “It might be tight but I'm sure you could both fit against that side of the counter. Not that you'd really mind being so close together, I'm sure.”

Marinette spluttered and his own stomach flipped but he pushed down the feeling to give her a smug look, knowing he was in the lead now after a noise like that.

She glared at him and he grinned, turning to watch as Sabine started to rearrange her new tiles, a smile lighting up her face as she did so.

“It's okay dears, you know we're just teasing,” said Sabine as she placed the word _**PACIFY**_ verticallyon the board, the _**Y**_ (which he noted was worth four points) sitting on the central star spot to give her a double word score.

Marinette groaned. “I forgot to mention,” she told him, “they like to try and relate their words to whatever they're doing or saying. She's trying to make us relax again so...pacify,” she gestured at the wooden letters now staring at him on the board.

“So...it's like a pun,” he said, grinning wider. This was definitely a way to play he could get behind. Marinette only groaned louder as her parents both grinned along with him.

“Oh come on Princess,” he said, glancing at his tiles, “Take that bad attitude and...begone.”

He placed the word _**AWAY**_ on the board, using Sabine's _**Y**_ before replenishing his tiles.

“I hate you all,” Marinette said, grabbing a croissant to chew on as she placed the letters _**R, E**_ and _**A**_ beneath the first _**A**_ he used to make _**AREA**_.

“You can't hate us honey,” her father added, “we made all your snacks remember?” He used the _**R**_ in Marinette's word to spell out _**BAKER**_ across the far left of the board.

[ [Scrabble board](https://ibb.co/c9ZEtF) ]

It continued on in this way for a while, Marinette groaning each time one of them made a pun. Sabine made a reference to Chat's cat-like behaviour and placed down the word _**BOX**_ while asking if he had any attachment to them like his name-sake. Marinette glared particularly badly at him as he placed all of his tiles on the board to make the word _**PRINCESS,**_ with a little help from Tom rearranging the wooden pieces for him until he saw it. He grinned as she blushed at her mothers giggled comment about “sweet nicknames” again, and he managed to overlook his own embarrassment because he appeared to be winning their bet.

Marinette turned _**BOX**_ into _**MATCHBOX**_ and Tom placed _**MISFITS**_ while telling them they were an odd couple but perfect for each other. They both flushed red at that one and Marinette whined at her father to stop. “Aye, aye Captain,” Sabine snickered as she added _**ABOARD**_ to the game.

Chat looked over his tiles, face still far too warm for his liking. It had become close between them again and neither one was winning anymore. He was perhaps, slightly in the lead but there was a long way to go before the evening was over and he was starting to react badly to some of the teasing comments before he could stop himself.

Trying not to dwell on it, he glared at his seven tiles as he realised he couldn't make anything from what he had. He glanced up pathetically at Tom, who took pity on him and held out his hand for the letter stand. Chat lifted it across the table, careful not to let Marinette see his letters, where the larger man studied the wooden pieces for a moment before handing them back with a defeated look.

“Looks like you need to miss a turn while you swap out you tiles,” he told him apologetically.

Chat grumbled but did as suggested, arranging his new letters, _**G, I, F, L**_ , two _**R**_ 's and _**Z**_ on the stand. He glared at the board as Marinette grumbled about just wanting “the game over already” and assembled the word _**END.**_

“That's a pun! We're getting through to her!” Tom shouted, laughing and pumping his fist. His daughter grumbled in response, replenishing her tiles before dropping her chin onto her hand, pouting in a way Chat found more adorable than he wanted to admit. He glanced back at the board as Tom placed his tiles, even more determined to focus on his next move now to rid himself of that confusing thought.

“That's not a word!” Marinette started screeching at her father, “You're cheating Papa!” He looked at Tom's latest move.

“Zas?” he asked. He was pretty sure she was right; that wasn't a word.

“Read it and weep!” smirked Tom, presenting them with the Scrabble dictionary, opened to the entry for _**ZAS**_.

“Slang,” he read aloud, “The shortened version of _**PIZZAS**_.”

“That shouldn't count!” Marinette continued to screech beside him. His brow furrowed. It really didn't seem fair to use slang.

“It's in the dictionary, so it counts,” Tom finished smugly, “That's twenty-two points because it's a double letter square.” Even Sabine was glaring at him at this point.

“Have you been reading the Z's again dear?” she accused him before turning to Chat, “This is how he's so good you know. He reads the sections for the high scoring letters, like some kind of illness.” She smirked suddenly as she looked at her wooden tiles. “You could almost say it's like a cancer.”

She picked up her tiles as she finished speaking and placed the word _**MELANOMA**_ on the board, a blank square in place of the _**E.**_

“Yes!” she said as Marinette put her face in her hands, “You see dear, we can make every word have a meaning. There's nothing that can be placed on this board that we won't turn into something funny.”

Chat blanched as he heard her words. He was gawking between the board and his tiles in horror as he realised there was a truly excellent word he could play, but that he would seriously regret the consequences if he did, based on what Sabine had just announced to them all.

[[ Scrabble board](https://ibb.co/nApa0v) ]

He stared at the wooden letters again, hand in his hair, determined to find something different. He'd just missed his last turn to swap his tiles so he couldn't do the same again or the game would be over. There had to be something he could do. Maybe -

“You need a hand, son?” Tom asked, and suddenly Chat was very aware that all three members of the Dupain-Cheng family were scrutinising him closely.

“NO!” he yelled and immediately slapped his hand across his mouth to contain any further suspicious outbursts.

He watched, terrified, as Tom and Sabine shared a look which obviously conveyed something he wasn't privy to and Tom reached across Marinette to pick up his tile stand. Chat briefly considered stopping him but he knew that would be futile. He could only hope Tom somehow didn't see what he could see amongst his letters.

Tom looked at the letters for a minute or so, before he looked at the board and at that moment Chat could practically _feel_ the revelation wash over the man. The larger man started to rearrange the letters on the stand, leaving a couple of gaps between some and pushed one off to the far side to mark it as unimportant. He smirked a little, then grinned before practically exploding in a rumbling laugh.

Chat's entire face bloomed a bright rosy colour as Tom began to place his tiles on the board for him and he buried his face in his arms on top of the tabletop when Sabine's giggled joined in with Tom's booming guffaws.

He whined audibly and risked lifting his head enough to reveal one eye, glancing up at Marinette. Despite a small dusting of pink across her cheeks, she seemed to find the whole thing more amusing than humiliating. A small smile played across her face.

She looked up from the board where her father had finally finished placing the word _**GIRLFRIEND**_ , the first _**I**_ intersecting with his word _**PRINCESS**_ from earlier. As she glanced at him, he groaned with unease and flushed redder than he had ever thought possible.

“Well, _Chaton_ ,” she said, bopping his nose with her index finger, “Looks like I win our bet.”

[ [Scrabble board](https://ibb.co/gQD7DF) ]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6: Game Night
> 
> Okay, I know they’re French and so they should be playing Scrabble in French and none of these words should intersect this way as a result. But I don’t speak a word of French so I can’t really do much about it this one time (I usually research French stuff or reference that everything is happening in French despite it being written in English, but this one was just...far too complicated for that.
> 
> Also, you have no idea the level of research that went into the rest of this. I do not play Scrabble. At all. I had to read the rules and check what letters a good player would be aiming to use, how many tiles you get etc... Then I had to find an image of a board and place the words on to make sure it was possible to fit them all on the way I wanted and try and relate the words I picked to puns of some kind... All while making sure they took turns in the correct order.
> 
> PS. Yes, that really is an accepted word in the Scrabble dictionary and yes, that is really what it means.


	8. You Did This For Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette decides to cheer up her sad kitty up by showing him he's appreciated in her own signature way.

She was so far beyond feeling nervous, she no longer had an adequate word to describe it.

He knew she had been working on something new. But he had absolutely no idea what her latest project was and now that she was ready to show him, she was no longer sure it was such a good idea. She didn't want to give him any strange impressions by basing a piece on him, but her chest felt tight and painful whenever she thought about keeping it secret, and she honestly wanted him to know just how much of an inspiration he'd been. Maybe it would lift his spirits.

She didn't know why, but her kitty had been feeling down lately. He was coming over more and more often these days, despite her parents stepping up their teasing game, and he never quite seemed to smile genuinely anymore. His recent smiles reminded her more of Adrien's when he'd assured them a couple of weeks ago that his dad forgetting about their meticulously arranged father-son dinner together and running off to a Milan show instead wasn't a big deal. She hated that kind of empty acceptance they both seemed to be using to cover up their pain. Even if she was basically a hypocrite who'd done exactly the same thing when Adrien had uncomfortably told her he only liked her as a friend.

She was dealing much better with that now though. After getting a definitive answer to her previous speculations about what could ever be between them, she had found it easier to push aside her awkwardness around him and try to be a real friend instead of a bumbling love-sick fool. She still had feelings for him but they weren't in the forefront of her mind lately. Now she could tease him on his taste in jokes or help him with his art project and creative writing assignments and generally try her best to cheer him up whenever he was down.

Just like she was intending to cheer up one mildly depressed kitty-cat.

It was almost time for the blond dork in question to show up, if the last fortnight's arrival times were any indication, so she slipped behind her changing screen in the corner of the room and started to undress before putting on the black jeans and green t-shirt she'd laid out for herself earlier. Just as she was lacing up the black biker boots to complete the look, she heard him drop down onto her bed and leap to the floor at the base of her ladder.

“Marinette?” he called out, “Princess, are you up here or do I have to go downstairs and risk your parents picking on me?”

“Just a minute!” she shouted back, “I'm just changing!”

“O-oh,” she heard him say, and she squirmed a little, nervous at the way his voice cracked when he spoke.

_It's now or never,_ she thought to herself as she shrugged on the jacket which was the focal point of her outfit. She hauled the zip up half-way and stepped out from behind the changing screen, seeing Chat turn towards the movement in his peripheral vision.

He gave such a comical double-take that Marinette was sure she'd imagined it; things that ridiculous didn't really happen in real life, did they? As his head whipped back again suddenly, she hoped he hadn't hurt his neck somehow despite his protective suit.

“What-is that-but-you're...?” he stuttered nonsensically at her, eyes and mouth widening with realisation. He snapped them both shut and shook his head a little before looking at her outfit again, his vision only scanning her skinny jeans, tucked into the boots and simple T-shirt visible since she hadn't zipped the jacket all the way up, but fixating on the jacket.

“What do you think?” she asked him anxiously. She rubbed at her arm self-consciously and looked out of her nearby window at the building across the street, too nervous to keep eye-contact with him on the off chance he was offended in some way.

“You made that...based on me?” he asked in a disbelieving tone, a small smile working it's way up one side of his mouth crookedly. She turned to face him again and found her gaze drawn to those smiling lips. She made herself clear her throat in embarrassment before trying to speak.

“Yeah,” she said, surprised at how normal her voice sounded, “You've been great company to me lately and...I've always been kinda annoyed that there's so little Chat Noir merchandise compared to all the Ladybug stuff out there, so I, um, decided to add to your side a bit.”

She bit the inside of her cheek hard when he started to walk towards her, clawed hand outstretched to touch the arm of her jacket. It was a feminine cut version of the classic biker leathers that seemed to be everywhere in Paris at the moment. The black leather sleeves had large oversized cuffs added to the ends in an imitation of where his suit met with his clawed gloves. She had replicated the piping on his magical armour to recreate the shape of his shoulders and sewn in small zipped pockets, just like his own.

The real feat had lay in the details. Instead of a plain zipper on the main fastening, she'd added a tiny golden bell, the stitching surrounding all of the zippers was done in the same green as his eyes, and there was an additional belt fastening at the hem, which looked exactly like his tail. Lastly, she'd embroidered a green paw print over the spot above her heart, like a signature. She'd thought about stitching her name into it, but she hadn't wanted to take away from the sheer Chat-ness of the design.

As his hand stroked down her arm, he caught sight of the paw print and she prayed he wouldn't comment on it's placement. He didn't but she noticed his eyes softened from his previous shock to something more relaxed.

“Do...do you like it?” she asked hesitantly.

“You did this for me?” he asked back instead. She nodded silently in response. She watched as his face morphed from it's relaxed expression into a sentimental one and she thought she saw his gaze drift down to her lips before quickly snapping back to her eyes. He grinned widely.

“I love it!” he shouted at her, arms throw into the air and a tear slipping down his cheek, which he didn't seem to notice in his sudden excitement. She didn't mention it; there was no reason to bring attention to how emotional he was.

“ _Merci_ Princess,” he told her quietly, sweeping her up into a tight hug. She gasped at how tightly he clung to her before sinking into the hug and wrapping her arms around him in return. She expected to smell leather from either him or her own jacket, but instead she caught a whiff of his shampoo and body spray. It was a shockingly normal smell.

“No problem Kitty,” she told him, inhaling the scent of normal teenage boy. As he pulled back from the hug she felt the loss of his warmth and essence immediately.

“Have your parents seen this yet?” he asked, suddenly wary. She groaned in response.

“No. That's the next challenge, if you're feeling up to keeping me company through it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 8: Fashion


	9. My Parents Will Never Find Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 2am and Marinette doesn't want to be that person.

 

Marinette did her best to stifle a yawn, failing miserably in the process. As her lips parted in complete betrayal of her intended actions, she quickly turned her head in an attempt to hide it. But apparently she was not due to succeed at anything other than video games tonight.

“Are you tired?” Chat asked her, his cat ears dropping a little atop his head as he spoke.

“A little,” she said, readjusting the strap of her tank top she was wearing as pyjamas tonight, “But I'm fine. Another game?”

“Marinette, it's 2am,” he said, his head tilting and an unimpressed expression on his face as he watched her for a reaction, “Why aren't you kicking me out yet?”

Marinette sighed deeply and let her shoulders slump in defeat as she looked at him. He'd inadvertently brought up the exact reason she hadn't asked him to leave already and she'd been hoping to avoid the issue. For all she knew it was something he didn't want to talk about and she'd cause unnecessary pain by pointing it out.

“'Cause I'm always kicking you out,” she told him, “I hate the way your face looks when I tell you you have to go home. It's like I've just kicked a puppy or something.”

His brow furrowed and he pouted when she finished, looking almost offended at her words. “I am nothing like a puppy,” he mumbled, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders, “I'm a kitten-” he cut off as he seemed to realise how much he'd emasculated himself by calling himself a kitten and jumped over his words in his attempt to correct his words, “-Cat! I'm one of those! I mean, I'm a cat not a dog! Puppy!”

He uncrossed his arms and let his head drop forward for a second, taking a deep breath before looking back up at her and speaking much more clearly this time. “I am not a puppy. I'm a cat, remember?”

She smiled at him. He was acting similarly to the way she did when she got her words mixed up and being such a dork that there was something endearing about it. She just hoped everyone else felt the same way about her when they had to suffer through her tongue-tied episodes.

“Really? And here I thought you were a boy. Guess I need to get my eyes checked.” She chuckled a little at his eye roll and felt her smile slip from her face as she considered her next words carefully.

“What I mean, Chat, is...you don't seem to want to go home and I didn't want to be the one to tell you that you had to. Or make you feel like you were bothering me by sticking around.”

He stared at her, looking astonished at her concern and she spotted his green eyes dampening at the corners, which he quickly blinked away. She pretended not to notice.

“Um, so you could tell I didn't want to go home?” he asked her with a shaky voice.

“You don't have to tell me why or anything, but I...I didn't want you thinking you couldn't stay as long as you wanted. I don't care if I'm tired, I'll sleep in tomorrow anyway.”

“It's just...I'm kind of home alone just now. It's...lonely.”

“Like I said, don't go home till you want to.”

Chat remained side-on to her, glancing out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, as if frightened that facing her would somehow effect the way she responded to his next question. His speech was quiet and continued to shake as if he was worried that the volume of his voice could somehow become a weapon. Who that weapon could hurt was still up for debate.

“But what...what if I...didn't really want to go home...like, at all tonight?”

She looked at him softly. At the boy who was appearing to examine his claws the way a girl might check a manicure for flaws. At her sweet kitty. She exhaled sharply and his head snapped up at the sound, eyes wide and watching her for a possible rejection.

“Then I guess I'd just say that you might as well stay here tonight. That way at least we'll get some sleep before the sun comes up.” She smiled warmly at him as she finished, moving to switch off her computer and replace the controllers on her desk.

His eyes stayed wide and his jaw dropped slightly in disbelief.

“R-Really?” he asked, “That wouldn't be weird?”

“No,” she lied. It would be a bit weird. Especially considering what she was about to suggest. “You're just lucky I have a double loft bed and not a single one.”

“Your b-bed!?” he squeaked, his face flushing a crimson colour which quickly made it's way down his neck and seeped into the opening of his suit. Marinette made every effort and used any and all willpower she possessed to hold back her own blush and act nonchalantly.

“Uh, yeah,” she said, trying her best to swallow the uncomfortable lump forming in her throat, “the chaise is only good for a quick nap, trust me. I've been there, done that, got the back brace.”

She chuckled awkwardly as she got up from her desk chair and stretched her fatigued body, another yawn forcing it's way out of her mouth and forcing her eyes to shut tight. As she opened them again she froze at what she saw, one of her arms slung behind her head, the opposite hand gripping her wrist tightly.

When she'd stretched, her pyjama top has ridden up to expose a small sliver of her bare stomach. Which Chat was now very obviously staring at, his slitted pupils blown wider than she'd ever seen them outside of battle conditions.

She cleared her throat and reached down to tug her tank top back over her stomach, suddenly very aware of just how short her sleep shorts were and feeling very exposed. Chat's head turned away from her skin so swiftly she was sure he would have had whiplash if he'd done so as a civilian, and he rubbed his hand against the back of his neck nervously.

“I-If that's okay with you then,” he said, standing to join her, but refusing to make eye contact, “But won't your parents be bothered by it? You know, us sharing...um...”

“My parents will never find out,” she said, putting out the main light and using a remote to switch on the lamp above her bed before making her way to the steps which led up there, “they'd never let us live it down. You know what they're like.”

He snorted, sounding slightly more at ease now that they were back to a familiar topic to distract him, and followed her up the stairs to her bed.

“True,” he said, hovering as he reached the top and kneeling at the foot of her bed, as if afraid to move any further, “But I mean, if they really are so sure that we're dating, wouldn't it be a big no-no to them for me to sleep in your bed?”

Marinette stopped pulling back the covers to turn and look at him. Her willpower to hold back her blush was fading fast and truthfully it hadn't been all that strong to begin with. As she considered how to answer (truthfully and embarrassingly or outright lie) she bit down on her bottom lip and moved to slide under the covers. She wriggled over to the side of the bed furthest from the wall, patting the spot next to her as an invitation.

He skittered across the length of the bed on all fours and tumbled under her duvet with none of the grace of his namesake and Marinette had to repress a slight chuckle at the sight.

She turned onto her side to face him and saw his face flush in the low lighting the lamp provided them as he followed her lead and did the same.

“Actually,” she said, “mamam and papa are...different to a lot of parents. They wouldn't have a problem with this.” Marinette looked for any visible sign of shock or discomfort but he seemed to be simply curious. She pushed down her growing embarrassment and continued, “They've been telling me since I was old enough to notice boys that I could-” she took a breath to steady herself, “-have a boy stay over, or a girl for that matter, as long as they'd met them first.”

She clenched her eyes shut in humiliation, “They trust me to make my own decisions on stuff like that. And, I guess, they know I'd never let anything happen with someone if I didn't want it to.”

There was silence for a long while and Marinette wasn't sure her heart could take the wait for Chat to react to the embarrassing implications. The thought that if her parents ever found out that he'd slept in her bed, that they'd automatically assume that there was other, _more physical_ stuff going on between them. And that they'd also be okay with that as long as she was careful. He was still silent and she decided to be brave and confront his reaction. Biting her lip, she peeked one eye open at his side of the bed.

She could almost believe he was asleep. He certainly looked the part. His eyes were closed and his breathing steady and he was so so still. But he clearly didn't quite know how to fake sleep and she could tell he was only pretending. His eyes were clenched a little too tightly to be shut naturally and his breathing was far too regulated, like he was timing his breathes in and out to make them sound rhythmic. She continued to stare at him in silence for a moment and his eye twitched but remained closed.

“Dork,” she said aloud, rolling over onto her back to get comfortable, “I was embarrassed too, you didn't have to leave me to stew like that.”

His claw fluttered against the mattress and the left side of his mouth twitched up in an involuntary smile at her words, but he continued to feign sleep.

Rolling her eyes for no ones benefit but her own, Marinette switched off the lamp, closed her eyes and let the drowsiness take over at last.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 12: Sleepover


	10. Accidental Cuddling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wakes up before Chat the morning after their impromptu sleepover

As Marinette started to wake up all her mind could comprehend was _warm_ and _heavy_. Whenever she normally woke up, Marinette felt cold. She had a bad habit of kicking her duvet away as she slept and so she would usually arrive on the conscious plain uncovered and chilly before grumpily grabbing for the edge of her covers and wrapping herself up like a burrito.

Today however, she was pleasantly cosy. Her arms still felt a little cold where they lay across her forehead and pillow but otherwise she was quite comfortable. At least in temperature she was comfortable. However her duvet had remained covering her was her number one mystery, but a close second was why it was multiple times heavier than it usually was. She shifted her leg to try and make herself more comfortable and awoke instantly, eyes snapping open, as it came in contact with another leg which didn't belong to her.

Marinette kept her eyes trained on the ceiling above her bed, desperately clinging to the hope that if she didn't look down, what she suspected couldn't really be happening. Even her spectacular level of denial couldn't avoid it forever though, and she found her head tilting and her eyes slowly moving to glance down at the blonde head of hair resting against her chest.

Although she remained perfectly still, internally Marinette was Freaking Out with capital letters. She remembered Chat not wanting to go home last night and her making a border-line humiliating offer to let him sleep in her bed. She had thought that would be as embarrassing as it would get. Clearly she had simply lacked the imagination necessary to see this chain of events coming.

A rumbling sensation against her lower rib cage took her by surprise and she gasped as Chat's hand, which had been lying against the mattress next to her curled up and around the back of her shoulder to pull her close.

She took stock of the rest of their current position and felt her face gaining more and more heat as she went on. She was lying sprawled out on her back with one leg bent and the other straight and Chat was lying _between_ them, the side of his head using her chest as a pillow as he slept. His other arm was under her, lying tucked into the small of her back and he was honest-to-goodness _purring_.

She'd had absolutely no idea he could purr before. He'd never done it in the whole time she'd known him as Ladybug and as Marinette and she was certain he'd never mentioned it before. She tried to shift her leg again, to see if she could lever it under him to escape the suggestive position they were settled in, but not only was it difficult and awkward to do, it caused Chat to groan and the vibration against her ribs died. She froze, praying to any deity that would listen that he didn't wake up until she'd found a way to make this less mortifying for them both.

After a few moments of breathless panic, Chat's face relaxed again and he rubbed his cheek against her breast as if fluffing a pillow. She whined quietly, intimately aware that this was the most action she'd ever had with a boy and it was completely and humiliatingly unintentional. She felt the rumbling sensation start up again and this time it was accompanied by a loud purring sound from his throat.

Her arms began to ache from the way they were slung above her head but she was unsure what to do with them now that she had a boy slung across her. Hesitantly, she lifted her right arm above them and brought it down gently to rest on his back, just below his shoulder. His face began to move back and forth against her chest again and his purr intensified.

As she lifted her other arm over his head to rest it on his side, his head lifted off of her chest ever so slightly and pushed into her hand. She didn't dare move her hand away as he rubbed his hair against it until she realised he was still unconscious and all of his movements were still on autopilot. She dropped her hand into his hair fully and he relaxed back onto her chest as she started to gently scratch behind his cat ears. If Marinette had thought his purring was loud until now she was grossly unprepared for the machine gun motor sound which he suddenly produced as she manipulated his hair and ears with her hand.

Marinette suddenly found she was no longer bothered by their intimate position, instead choosing to enjoy Chat's kitty-like behaviour and running her hands along his spine and scratching behind his ears, both human and cat. In return Chat's hands gripped at her shoulder and back tightly and he continued to rub his cheek against her like an affectionate kitten would.

She went to work discovering all the spots he enjoyed being petted and quickly found that the nape of his neck was particularly sensitive, eliciting a cat-like noise of pleasure from him. She giggled at the sound and brought both hands to his shoulders before dragging them up and over his neck and into his hair to scratch. By this point, Marinette had all but forgotten that he wasn't actually an animal at all but a teenage boy, at least until his head turned and instead of continuing to rub his cheek against her, he was rubbing the front of his face into her breasts, his nose dipping into her cleavage.

Marinette squeaked and jumped in place on the bed, startling Chat who slowly lifted his face as if to look at her, eyes starting to blink open.

“Prin...cess?” he asked groggily around his purr and Marinette's self-preservation instincts jumped in to save her from the impending shame.

“What-!? Get off!” she screamed at him, shoving him from between her legs and to the other side of the bed, his purr halting instantly.

Chat just lay there on his side for a second or two, blinking as he tried to put two and two together and work out why he had been shoved so roughly. She could tell the exact moment he realised what had happened and his face and neck flushed scarlet to match her own as he stuttered out a hasty apology.

“ _Oh mon Dieu_. I'm sooo sorry, please don't hate me. I didn't mean to- Oh _Dieu_ , what did I do?” he sputtered.

“I-I don't know what happened exactly,” she lied, “I just woke up. You must be...I think you must be a cuddly sleeper.”

“What can I do to-”

“Can we just...not talk about it?” she asked, cutting him off.

“Deal,” he said swiftly, “I, uh, have to get going anyway. The person looking after me will be looking for me soon.”

“Okay,” she said in a flat voice, burying her face in her hands in mortification and trying to will down the heat that had bloomed across her face and shoulders. She didn't look up again until she heard her skylight close behind him and worried if she had ruined things between them irreparably by forcing the blame onto her poor kitty.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2: Purring
> 
> PS, these prompts and future ones on my tumblr under paganinpurple


	11. Waiting and Wanting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette decides to be brave and go for it.

****It had been, she felt, a bit of an awkward visit.

They were both a little unsure about how to act after the purring incident this morning. She had actually been surprised that he showed up at all, instead expecting him to avoid her for a few days. Waking up to find you'd rolled on top of your friend in your sleep and purred into her chest had to be uncomfortable at best of times and his stuttered apology and heated blush had done little to control that, she could tell.

He was doing his best to pretend it had never happened and she was playing along, both of them struggling to talk normally and conversation running dry almost constantly. Despite the delicate situation she didn't really want to clear the air or get it out in the open by talking about it and humiliating them further.

So why did she feel so disappointed that he was tip-toeing round it?

He yawned suddenly, bringing her away from that confusing thought process and back to her room and the blonde boy sitting in the computer chair beside hers.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, putting down the video game controller and stretching, “Guess I'm pretty tired. I should get some sleep.”

Her face heated up as she was involuntarily reminded yet again that he'd slept over last night and the intimate position they had ended up in as a result.

He seemed to remember the same thing as he suddenly spluttered out, “ _Go_ _home_ and get some sleep I mean! Not stay again like...” he trailed off and gave a pained groan, hiding his face in his hands for a moment before lifting it and glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Look-sorry again. For this morning. It was...weird of me.”

He squirmed in place as if he were sitting on an anthill and she was suddenly desperate to ease his discomfort, her own be damned.

“It wasn't weird, Chat,” she told him, “...Okay, it was a bit weird, but only because I made it.”

He cocked his head at her, brow furrowed in confusion at what she meant by that.

“I...pretended I'd only just woken up,” she admitted, “I'd been awake for a lot longer really.” She looked away from his shocked expression, embarrassed. “I pet your hair,” she added quietly, “It made you purr louder.”

“Oh...”

“I was embarrassed that I liked your purring enough to stay in that...awkward position. So when you woke up, I panicked and threw you off.”

“You like that I can purr?” he asked, his face looking suddenly conflicted over something.

“I liked that you felt happy enough curled up with me to purr,” she amended, face flaring with heat she was sure he could feel from next to her.

He smiled at that and her heart soared despite her embarrassment as it reached his eyes and they gleamed with joy. He was contented around her again and things felt a lot less awkward and a lot happier. Then his mouth stretched wide as he yawned again, loudly this time.

“Come on Kitty,” she snickered at him, getting up from her seat and making her way to her bed's ladder, “You need to get home before you fall asleep on some rooftop somewhere.”

He followed her silently up onto her balcony and they made their way to the railing as they always did when he left. This time it felt different however. He didn't climb up and jump away immediately as he often did and when she glanced at his face he looked as if he was thinking deeply.

She didn't want him to just go. But she didn't quite want him to stay another night either and he was tired enough that it seemed he would fall asleep if he waited too long to leave. But...just saying goodbye didn't feel like enough anymore.

She had been desperately trying to deny it for a while now but this morning had put things into sharp perspective for her and she had to admit to herself that...having Chat cuddled into her like that had been _nice_. She wanted nice again. She wanted more than nice.

How long had she been staring at his mouth each night before he left? Longer than she was willing to admit. Had he even noticed? She hoped she hadn't been imagining the moments she had thought she had seen him doing the same during the last week or two.

She wanted to kiss him. She just had to pray he wanted to kiss her too.

Just as he appeared to mentally shake his mind free from itself and turned to give her his usual two finger salute before he left, Marinette lifted her hands to his shoulders and gripped them tight, leaning up and pressing a quick, chaste kiss to his lips.

She pulled back shyly, hands still gripping the leather-like material of his suit to see his stunned face looking at her.

“W-Why did you do that?” he whispered.

“'Cause I really wanted to,” she told him, tilting her face down nervously but keeping her eyes still fixed to his.

He smiled softly and the butterflies in her stomach rested for a moment before bubbling to life more than they had previously as he leaned towards her.

“Good,” he said, “'Cause I've wanted to do this for a while.”

And then he pressed his lips to hers, his hands lifting to rest gently on her hips as his lips moved against hers chastely. He pulled back and placed one last tender peck to her lips before pulling away from her completely and jumping atop her balcony railing.

“Until next time, my Princess,” he said, grinning and giving her his signature salute before vaulting from her balcony and disappearing into the night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 22: Rooftop Kisses
> 
> This is somewhat based on the very real way my last relationship started. We’d been high-key flirting and skirting around our UST till I thought “fuck it” and kissed him. He reacted the same way Chat does.


	12. Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Chat define their growing relationship

It had been one week. Seven amazingly confusing days of whatever this was with Chat. To Marinette's relief they didn’t really speak about it. Nothing much changed about their visits other than his frequency, becoming a nightly occurrence. He still came over to play video games, he watched her sew, he hung out with her parents and they still teased them both relentlessly.

But neither one of them would mention what happened when it came time for him to go home, although Chat's demeanour had changed from how it used to be - almost drastically. Long gone were the days of him dragging his feet and pouting his lips because he needed to leave. Instead he now grinned the moment one of them started to yawn with exhaustion. It became a show of over the top behaviour as he climbed up to her balcony (“Oh dear Princess, is it time for me to leave? I guess I better head up. See me off?”), jumping and flexing instead of simply walking up the steps like a normal person.

Of course once he was on the balcony, leaning against her railing, any annoyance she might have felt at his show-boating would quickly dissipate. Every day since that first kiss, every single night she would lean up into him and press her hands to his chest as he leant down to meet her halfway.

Every time their inexperienced lips touched Marinette would give an internal sigh and both pray for and dread the moment they had to address what was happening between them. Every time Chat would give a quiet purr in the back of his throat and they would spend ten to fifteen minutes, lips moving against one another and breaking apart for air, mouths mostly closed and kisses remaining chaste.

And every single time Marinette wondered what the hell his hands were doing.

Whenever they began kissing Chat would place his hands over Marinette’s hips, much in the same way she always placed hers on his chest. But as the kissing progressed beyond a few minutes, His hands would starts to flex and relax against her. She didn't understand what was going on with them. Was it a nervous habit or something? Or if he was trying to be a stereotypical teenager and feel her up, wouldn’t he want to feel up more than her hips? Not that Marinette was sure she was ready for anything like that of course, but she just didn’t...get it. She decided that seven days was long enough to wonder without doing anything about it.

Marinette took one hand from Chat’s chest and placed it over one of the hands that were currently tightening and relaxing against her in a steady rhythm. He stilled for a moment and she encouraged him to keep his mouth moving against hers as best she could. As she felt his fingers start to move against her again, she pressed against his hand gently, forcing it flat against her and sighed for a moment before a sharp pain made her pull away from Chat yelping.

“Sorry!” he said as she rubbed at the tender skin of her hip, “I didn't mean that.”

“Why did you dig your claws into me?” she said, pouting at him.

“I told you I didn't mean it,” he added, “I...can't really control my hands when I'm, um...” She raised an eyebrow at the way he trailed off and noted the way he anxiously rubbed at the back of his neck.

“What?”

“Um,” he tried again, dipping his head and smiling awkwardly, “happy...or enjoying myself.”

Marinette's brows pulled together in confusion and she tilted her head at him. Despite them not discussing much of what was happening between them, she didn't feel particularly uncomfortable or embarrassed by his little confession.

“Why can't you control your hands?” she asked him curiously. He looked up at her, seeming surprised that she was remaining calm or perhaps that she was interested at all.

“Oh, it's-” he cleared his throat, probably to distract her from whatever he was trying to say, “-a cat thing. I wouldn't do it if it weren't for my Miraculous. Like the purring, I guess.”

A cat thing. She thought over everything she knew about cats and worked her way through their behaviours as quickly as she could. She'd never had one as a pet because of the bakery but she knew a few people who did. There was Alix's cat, Snowball, who was just a lazy lump who had dozed on his cat tree the few times she'd met him. Then there was Kim's cat, what was his name? Marinette wasn't sure she could remember, except that it started with a 'P.' But he was more or less a kitten, obsessed with toys and catnip. And lastly there was Mylène's tabby, Lucy, who was a very affectionate girl and would curl up in Marinette's lap as she petted her and-

“You've been _kneading_ me?” she asked in shock. Chat looked somewhat sheepishly at her.

“Sorry,” he said, “I can't help it. Guess I need to be careful though, since my claws don't retract like a real cats does.”

She watched him as he looked at his clawed hand sadly and sighed. It was kind of her fault. In one whole week he'd never scratched her - not until she'd tried to stop him kneading at her. He just looked so upset that he might have done something wrong. He always seemed to think he was on the verge of being told off for something and it might have been irritating if she didn't find it so endearing.

“I'll need to ask him about that,” he mumbled to himself. She realised he must be talking about his kwami, but couldn't really say so since she wasn't supposed to know about them. Marinette rolled her eyes affectionately at his sad kitten eyes.

“Oh relax, Pretty Kitty,” she told him smiling.

“Pretty Kitty?” he asked, an amused smile appearing on his face, “That's a new one.”

Marinette blushed a little but found she didn't mind so much now if he saw her getting a touch flustered. So long as he didn't try to make fun of her for it.

“Well, you're quite the handsome knight,” she told him, moving forward to glance up at him with hand-lidded eyes, “Is...it okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” he said and she leaned up onto her tip-toes to place another kiss on his lips. Before she could make contact he pulled away looking conflicted. She looked at him, asking what was wrong with her expression alone.

“Marinette,” he said quietly, “What are we?”

Marinette could only blink in shocked reply, unsure how to answer. This was it. The moment she'd been unsure how to address all week and she realised now that she was no closer to understanding than he was and no less confused than before.

“Because,” he continued, eyes cast down and talking to his boots, “I think I need to know. I never expected to like you because...you're my friend and I still like Ladybug...but whether I expected it or not, I do. I _like_ you. A lot.”

He looked up at her, face pained and obviously braced for a rejection. “And I know it's only been a week, and all we've done is kiss and even then I know that's probably been quite tame compared to how most people must kiss but...is this just a bit of fun for you or, or-”

She leaned up and cut him off with a kiss equally as innocent as any they'd already shared, but she gripped him tightly as she did so, arms dragging gently along his back in a mixture between a pet and a caress.

He began to purr in response and his hands ran along her waist and settled on her hips as they usually did, his fingers massaging into them as he began to paw happily again.

This time Chat's kneading was much stronger than it had ever been before and she felt his claws prick at her skin through her clothes without quite causing pain, creating a delicious tingling sensation. The tingling abruptly stopped as she could no longer feel his claws scratching gently, although his hands still flexed and relaxed rhythmically against her.

She broke away from him gently and glanced down at his hands. There were no longer any claws on them, only gloved fingertips. She took one of his hands in her own and lifted it up to examine it as he watched with shock and fascination of his own.

“Guess my Pretty Kitty has been de-clawed,” she said, intertwining his fingers with her own, “Pity. I was just starting to enjoy that.”

“ _Your_ Pretty Kitty?” he asked, his face lighting up with nervous hope.

“Yeah,” she blushed, “I'd like it if you were my Kitty...and I were your Princess.”

“I'd like that too,” he said, his grin taking over his entire face as he leaned forward to kiss her again, arm tightening around her to draw her in close.

“Great, then you can tell my parents.”

There was a sudden sting of pain on the back of her hand where Chat's fingers were and around her back where he was holding her and she hissed suddenly before throwing him the dirtiest look she could muster.

“Chat!”

“Sorry,” he said, “I guess they're just retractable after all.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 7: Happy Pawing
> 
> I always wondered about Chat's claws. I mean, real cats can retract their claws whenever they want and that tends to be a bit part of how kneading works for them. I dunno. I just wanted to give him retractable claws.


	13. Take A Picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is hit by an akuma and Chat is almost speechless

 

He'd been right there at the carnival, for a photo shoot, when the kid's tantrum had started. It had been surprisingly easy to break away from the photographer and his dressers when the mayhem had begun and he had done his best to transform quickly before rushing back to help the children and teenagers who had been panicking around him a moment ago.

Except now he couldn't see anyone under eighteen. There were plenty of people around, sure, but they all seemed to be adults. Very confused looking adults at that.

“No one will ever be too young for a ride again!” a child's voice rang out in the distance. Only when he turned to look, he realised the voice had come from the mouth of a 20-something year old man.

“Okay, this is weird,” a familiar voice said.

Chat turned his head towards the welcome sound of his new girlfriend, internally giddy at being able to use the word. “Princess!-” he started before cutting off abruptly and gawking at her instead.

The person standing before him was definitely his princess. Only this princess was a taller and a more- _ahem_ -shapely one than he was used to. While his eyes were boring into her, she stared down at herself in utter amazement at the sudden change to her body. He vaguely registered that she was wearing the same clothes he had spotted her in earlier but they seemed to have changed size with her to accommodate her new...physique. _Oh crap_ , he thought, _she's so hot. Too hot._

And she was currently glaring at him. Like, really glaring. Shit. What had he done to deserve such a hard look from such a soft and sweet girl...woman? Oh God, she'd put her hands on her hips. Had she always had such nice hips? Oh God he was staring! Actually ogling at her! In public! No wonder she was pissed off.

He closed his gaping jaw with a snap and turned to clear his throat into his hand in an awkward attempt to pretend he hadn't been openly checking her out. He hoped his face wasn't as flushed as it felt and glanced back at her.

“Shouldn't you be going after that akuma, _Chaton_?” she asked him, hands folding across her chest and mouth reshaping into a smirk at the way his eyes flicked down her body as she spoke to him.

“Yeah-” his voice cracked and he cleared his throat again “Um...he makes people older then?” It hadn't worked. His voice still sounded strange. From her raised eyebrow, he could tell she'd noticed.

“About 10 years from what I can see. I'm pretty certain the kid was 10 before he changed. And I think I look about 24 or so.” She gestured to herself, hands moving down her body deliberately slowly.

“R-right.” He swallowed heavily. And her hands were back on her hips again. And with her shoulders pushed back like that and her pigtails swept back...

“Take a picture it'll last longer,” she giggled at him, jutting her hip out seductively.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he'd opened his baton and snapped a photo before turning tail and running after the akuma as quickly as he could manage. Behind him he could hear her shouting his name angrily. Nope. Not going back there. He was not giving her a chance to chide him for that until he'd gotten her back to normal and he could think a little more clearly.

Except teenage Marinette was usually pretty gorgeous when she was fuming over something so maybe he wouldn't be thinking as clearly as he'd like. He'd have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 11: Age-up Marinette
> 
> I wrote this one before many of the others so the style might be a little different. I dunno.
> 
> Someone made a comic! http://paganinpurple.tumblr.com/post/161417281667/marichat-may-day-11-age-up-marinette


	14. Make It Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat visits Marinette unable to forget what she looks like all grown-up.

 

Chat was feeling very agitated as he ran across the rooftops of Paris with a specific destination in mind. Seeing his newly designated girlfriend as a young adult this afternoon had been a moment for the ages and he'd been struck border-line speechless until he'd encountered the akuma, at which point he'd been thankful for the distraction. It had taken a lot of concentration to avoid his ageing blasts and he was starting to feel weary by the time his Lady had arrived.

Just in time to change him from speechless to tongue-tied.

She'd immediately admitted she'd been hit as a civilian before she had a chance to transform, explaining her absence at the beginning of the fight. So she had fought as a woman in her twenties. A twenty-something Ladybug in skin-tight red armour. A new, more grown-up, busty figure in skin-tight armour. Running around and doing parkour.

Chat grimaced as he remembered the way he'd spat out nonsense at her as she tried to talk strategy with him and how in a role reversal he'd had to be knocked out of range of the akuma on two separate occasions by Ladybug when he lost focus.

“Eyes on the prize, _Minou_ ,” she'd told him whenever his eyes strayed.

He landed on Marinette's balcony and spent a moment or two pacing as his thoughts about earlier swam around his head guiltily. It wasn't polite to gawk at a girl in public at the best of times but he supposed he could be forgiven at least a little if the girl in question was his girlfriend. Marinette had almost seemed to be teasing him at one point, so she clearly didn't mind as much as she'd initially seemed to. But he'd also been stunned senseless by Ladybug. And that would probably show on the TV reports. Which Marinette would have seen. He felt like the worst person in the world.

A voice distracted him from his thoughts suddenly.

“Are you coming in or do you just want to wear a groove in my balcony?”

He turned to see Marinette's upper half, clad in her pyjama tank top and arms crossed and resting on the balcony floor, while her legs presumably dangled into the room below. Not for the first time, he was hit with a wave of utter amazement at how strong she must be to be able to haul herself up onto her balcony regularly.

He moved towards her skylight and waited until she'd stretched out her arms to drop back down to her bed before following her. She sat where she landed, half-way towards the ladder from her giant cat pillow, and pouted her lip at him, arms and legs crossed.

His cat ears drooped at the sight of her annoyance and he reached out for a moment before snatching back his hand at the last moment.

“I'm sorry,” he said, “I'm a horrible person.”

Marinette's face snapped into a look of utter shock at his words and her crossed arms slowly began to unwind to settle her hands on her knees instead.

“What?” she said, “It was just a picture. And I'm not really mad. Mostly just annoyed with myself for telling you to do that, even if I was just being sarcastic.”

“No, I mean, when I was fighting the akuma with Ladybug...and I, um...have you seen the footage?” he asked gingerly.

He braced himself, waiting for her to go back to being upset, or shout at him or something. But she didn't. To his surprise, Marinette didn't do any of those things. Instead she uncrossed her legs and swung them under her to kneel towards him, her hands coming up to cup his face, and she placed a tender peck of a kiss on his lips.

“Oh _Chaton_ ,” she said in a cooing tone he'd expect her to use with a young child, “My Pretty Kitty. That's okay. We only just got together the other day, and you were honest and told me you still liked her. As long as you're not seriously trying to date her, you go flirt and get flustered as much as you want.”

“Wut,” he said in a rather ineloquent deadpan.

She giggled, and kissed him again, though he didn't respond as he was still feeling a little stunned. She leaned in to whisper in his human ear playfully.

“Just bring your flustered butt here afterwards so I can make it all better.”

Chat's heart rate shot up faster than he thought was healthy and he cast his mind back to before seeing an older Ladybug, to when he'd encountered his Princess looking more like a Queen. He stared at her as he remembered the way she'd cocked her hip at him and smiled coyly, pretending she had no idea what she was doing to him...

He surged forward, knocking a startled Marinette onto her back and hovered over her, with a half-lidded gaze and a huge grin on his face. In return Marinette's eyes widened exponentially and she stuttered at him – something she'd never done with Chat as far as he could remember.

“Ch-Chat?” she asked nervously.

“I thought you wanted to make it all better?” he asked, lowering his voice and applying the flirtiest tone he could conjure.

He watched as Marinette's pupils dilated and her breath caught before dipping his head and capturing her mouth in a kiss. In return she grabbed at his hair, fingers intermingling with the strands and gripping tightly as she returned his sudden intensity with her own.

He willed his claws to retract (something he'd been practising for the past two days) and ran his hand down her side, lightly outlining her ribs. She gasped into his mouth in response and he took the opportunity to trace her lips with his tongue.

His Princess responded eagerly, opening her mouth and letting him memorise the feel of her, her tongue pressing back against his in equally inexperienced experimentation. She wriggled her leg out from where he was laying across it, which forced him to settle between her legs, much more comfortably than he'd been a moment ago. He pulled back a little to reposition himself and used the chance to trail kisses along her jaw and down to where her throat met her neck, leaving a wet open-mouthed kiss against her skin.

Marinette let out a strangled sound of pleasure and he excitedly nipped at her skin in response, trying desperately to draw out more breathy moans from her. Simultaneously, his hand slid just beneath the material of her tank top, thumb grazing her stomach and bringing him close to whining over how he couldn't feel her skin with his own because of his suit.

“Ch-Chaaat,” she keened, as he moved the strap of her top out of his way to pepper her collarbone with kisses before gently biting down.

He revelled in the way she writhed beneath him, the noises she was making doing horrible things to his blood pressure. One of her hands moved from his hair to curl against his chest, attempting to find something to grasp onto but because of the material of his suit being forced to simply press against his pectoral instead. The other hand gripped at his scalp tightly, her nails tiny pin pricks of sensation. He bit harder, sucking in his best attempt to leave a mark on her.

It was at that moment that she arched up into him; he gave an involuntary grunt and became intimately aware of just how worked up he'd gotten during their sudden, unplanned make-out session. There was no doubt in his mind from how their bodies were pressed flush together that she was just as aware as he was. His face flared despite the fact that their activities up to now had not caused him to blush at all.

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered at her, lifting his head to look guiltily at her face.

Marinette lay beneath him, skin rosy and glazed eyes passing from lusty to confused and back to lusty just as quickly.

“Oh shut up, it's a compliment,” she said suddenly, “I'd feel insulted if that didn't happen.”

She didn't even give him time to properly process her words before she was dragging his head down to meet her for another heated kiss. When they pulled away for air he grinned at her.

“You are the best girlfriend ever.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 13: SIN
> 
> I'd say, "Take my innocence" but that ship sailed long ago...


	15. Chemistry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is sending mixed signals

 

Chat slunk in through her skylight stealthily, dropping down to her bed without even a creak. He prowled across the bed to the railing which lined her bed and peered over at his pray.

Marinette was sitting at her desk with her tablet and a textbook open in front of her. From the looks of things she was working on an assignment and based on the way her face was scrunched up in concentration, she was having a hard time making progress.

He grinned widely and leapt down suddenly to stand beside her, failing to suppress a snicker when she shrieked and fell out of her chair at his unexpected appearance. She climbed to her knees and leaned over the seat of her computer chair, pouting at him in annoyance.

“ _Bonsoir_ ,” he said, leaning over to look at her as she continued to glare and letting his eyelids drop halfway, “How is my Princess on this fine evening?”

“Chat Noir,” she snapped as she got to her feet, “why did you have to frighten me like that?”

“Well,” he replied, moving around behind her swiftly to rest his chin on her shoulder, arms entwining around her waist and dropping his voice to a low rumble next to her ear, “from the way you squeaked, you can't blame me for mistaking you for a mouse and stalking you a little.”

“That would sound so creepy coming from someone without a cat themed outfit,” she snorted back, although Chat couldn't help but notice she shivered a little as his breath ghosted over the shell of her ear.

He tightened his arms around her waist and started placing little teasing kisses against the hollow beneath her ear. She squirmed and he smirked as he grazed his teeth against her skin. To his surprise she reacted in the way he least expected as she unclasped his arms from around her, spinning out of his hold to sit at her desk again. He stood with his arms still held out in front of him and blinked in disbelief at her quick exit.

“Not now Kitty,” she said, “I have to finish this or Mme Mendeleiev will chew me out in front of everyone again.” Her voice sounded strained and she chewed her lip absent-mindedly after she had finished speaking.

Chat's ears drooped a little as he remembered Marinette's entrance to Chemistry class yesterday morning. She had completely missed home room and had arrived ten minutes late to the first class of the day, which was unfortunate since it was the strictest teacher's subject. She hadn't even given Marinette a chance to explain herself before going on a tirade about lab safety and how running into a lesson in progress could be catastrophic had there been dangerous substances in use. There hadn't been. She'd been demonstrating the chemical structure of a compound on the board at the time.

After lecturing the poor girl for another ten minutes, during which Chloé had begun to laugh behind her hand, their teacher had told her to complete an additional exercise from their textbook as well as the rest of the homework she was assigning and to have it completed by the next lesson. Which was tomorrow. And Marinette wasn't particularly good at chemistry to begin with.

He glanced at her. No wonder she looked so stressed out; she must be having difficulty with the work.

He jumped up to sit on the desk beside her for a moment before he remembered that Sabine didn't like that, and settled himself into the chair next to her instead. He leaned over her textbook and glanced down at her progress on the tablet.

“Want a hand?” he asked her, placing an elbow on the desk and propping his hand up with his hand.

“Depends,” she said, turning to look at him, smirking, “Are you any good at this?”

He grinned back at her sly smirk, enjoying her teasing. “One of my best subjects,” he told her honestly.

“Hmm, so my Pretty Kitty is good at school huh?”

“Only at logical stuff. Maths, sciences, languages...I suck at anything creative,” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

“I dunno,” she said, her smirk transforming into something much more enticing, “You were plenty creative last night.”

He gulped in the moment it took him to collect the shreds of sanity that tried to fly away from him; he could see her eyes drawn to the movement and she stared at his Adam's apple as it bobbed.

As he quickly pulled himself together he adopted an equally seductive look on his face and leaned in close to her face, his lips hovering over hers.

“That's because I'm great at Chemistry,” he purred out and delighted in the way Marinette's breath hitched and her eyes dilated as she looked at him.

Again, she surprised him by suddenly grabbing for her tablet clumsily and moving over to the chaise. There she shook her head exaggeratedly and dropped down to concentrate on the work she was trying to complete.

He scratched behind his head anxiously and scooted his chair over towards her, unable to keep himself from feeling slightly hurt over her brush-off of his advances which he honestly felt she'd instigated. He resolved himself to laying off the flirting until she was done with her homework. He cleared his throat before he started speaking in an attempt to show her he was genuinely being serious.

“In all honesty, do you want help?”

She looked up at him, a tinge of mistrust in her eyes which hurt him further than she probably realised. The look melted away almost instantly though and he hoped she could tell he wasn't trying to be pushy.

“Yeah,” she said, “but no funny business. I really need to get this done before tomorrow.”

“Cat's honour,” he said, raising a hand to give his usual salute as a promise before taking a seat on the chaise next to her and beginning to explain the basics of ionic bonding.

* * *

 

“So?” Marinette asked him from her place next to him, “How did I do?”

He looked over her answers, noting there was one or two which weren't quite right but which showed enough understanding to avoid her failing the question altogether. He didn't want to bring her down by pointing out any failures though, not when she finally seemed more confident in her grasp on the subject after only an hour's study with him.

“Really well!” he told her, “If she finds anything to give you a hard time about on this, I'll be very surprised.”

She grinned widely at him, pleased with herself, and obviously relieved that the work was over and she no longer had anything to worry about. She dropped her head to his shoulder and her thigh brushed against his.

“ _Merci_ Pretty Kitty,” she said, “I guess you're pretty brilliant as well.”

He could feel the heat pooling across his cheeks beneath his mask, much more effected by praise when it came from her than when he heard it from photographers and other models, or even when he could overhear his father praising him to investors and the like at parties.

“ _Merci_ ,” he said back, looking down at her and beginning to turn on the charm, “But the Pretty Princess is still much more creative than I am.” He placed a kiss against her hair.

Chat watched as her face blossomed into a lovely pink shade, her smile remaining in place despite any embarrassment she felt. She turned in place atop the chaise so that she was facing him and unfolded her legs to place one behind him and slung the other across his lap.

“Do you want to practise getting creative then?” she asked seductively. He waggled his eyebrows at her in response before carefully lifting her to sit in his lap fully.

“You bet,” he said before diving in for the first of many kisses.

* * *

They became lost in each other for quite some time, and before Chat could quite comprehend how Marinette had negotiated him onto his back to straddle him and lavish his neck with attention, the sound of someone clearing their throat brought him screeching back to reality.

Marinette jerked backwards, rolling away from him before she had a chance to remember that the chaise wasn't wide enough for that and falling to the floor for the second time that night. Chat shot up into a sitting position and looked over, wide-eyed, at the small Chinese woman and her much larger husband who's heads were poking out of their daughter's trapdoor. He grabbed at a nearby cushion and hugged it to his lap.

“We wondered if you kids would like a study break,” Tom asked, a huge grin on his face, “I made _tarte tatin_ for a snack. Although, it looks like you already took a break to de-stress.”

Chat glanced over at Marinette who hadn't moved from her spot on the floor and who was currently attempting to hide her scarlet complexion behind her hands. She was groaning quietly to herself.

Deciding that he'd had enough of feeling embarrassed for all nine of his lives, Chat made the abrupt decision to just own the situation. Maybe Marinette's parents would tease him less if they thought there was nothing to gain from it. He turned back to her parents and smiled at them.

“ _Tarte tatin_ sounds awesome Tom,” he said, turning back to Marinette as she dropped her hands at the sound of his voice. He changed his smile to a smirk as she looked at him, “Sound good, my Pretty Princess?”

Marinette glared at him and he snickered along with Sabine's tinkling giggles as they delighted in her annoyance at being found out.

“You owe me five Euros Tom,” Sabine said to her husband, “I told you they'd have to be caught before they owned up to it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Homework
> 
> Okay, I'm still doing these. I just needed a break from writing for a few days. Between work and trying to clean the house, I had no time for me. So this weekend, after work, I went out for a meal, went to the cinema and went to a BBQ. So that's enough social interaction for the year I think...
> 
> I have only 10 of these chapters left to write. There are many to come that are all ready to go, I just need to get the filler chapters done. Like the next one.


	16. The Growing Inner Circle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After telling Marinette he couldn't come over, Chat's schedule is suddenly freed up and he crashes in unannounced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG. I’m still working on these. IT IS JULY. 
> 
> In all honesty, I’ve had a lack of motivation due to my health and I didn’t want to write at all for a while till I decided to say "screw it" and did a set of prompts to get me hyped again.
> 
> Also, these are getting longer and longer because I have no self-control.

" _Salut mon jolie_ Purr-incess, I know I said I couldn't come round this week but that thing I couldn't get out of got cancelled for today and...I...uh..."

Chat cut off his excited rambling as he took in his surroundings and realised belatedly that the girl in the room wasn't Marinette. In fact, Marinette was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Alya stood in the middle of the floor staring wide-eyed at the sudden intrusion.

"Chat Noir!" she exclaimed as the hero in question stared at her, panic rising in his chest.

"Um? Hi?" he said, ears flattening to his head as he smiled sheepishly despite his discomfort, "You run the Ladyblog right?"

He knew he hadn't met Alya often enough as Chat to show too much familiarity, but a part of him wished that he could use the fact that he knew her to play-off the awkwardness of the encounter.

Her mouth opened and closed as she started at him, then at the skylight he had let himself in through, then tracked her eyes back to him again. Just as she cleared her throat to speak and stuck out a finger accusingly, the trapdoor opened and Marinette's voice floated through to them both.

"Thanks, _Mamam_. I probably would have dropped it all if I'd done this myself."

Chat looked over Alya's shoulder as she turned to look towards the source of the noise, keeping herself in profile as if afraid he would run away if she took her eyes from him completely.

Marinette, with drinks in hand, froze as she caught sight of him and as he locked eyes with his girlfriend he instantly he knew he'd messed up. I mean, he'd already known that he'd messed up, but now he just _**knew**_.

Marinette stumbled a little as her mother bumped into her in an attempt to enter the room with an overladen tray blocking her view.

"Marinette!" she admonished, "Don't block the doorway, you know better than that."

It was at that moment that she caught sight of the three statue-like teenagers who were currently taking turns staring at one another in uncomfortable silence. She took a turn glancing between them herself before she puffed out an irritated breath and moved into the room to put the tray on the desk.

"Chat," she said to him warmly, and he turned sharply, not having anticipated any compassion after his faux paw, "I thought you weren't coming back till next week dear." Alya simply gaped at the familiar exchange.

"I wasn't," he said stupidly, "I mean, I had something else. But it got cancelled. Just for today. So I thought...um..."

"Oh dear," Sabine chuckled, "You really should have called, but no matter. I'll go fetch another bowl. You don't mind beef noodles do you?"

She smirked at him and he grinned in return, his cat ears pricking up. He adored her beef noodles and she knew it. Tom and Sabine had insisted he eat with them often since proving he was more invested in Marinette than the two of them had been claiming.

"Your special dumplings too?" he asked turning his head to look at the tray of food to see which other dishes she had brought up for the girls. He noted with joy that there was a healthy serving of dumplings as well as a small dish of fried mashi too.

"Of course!" she said, clearly delighted at his excited response to her food, "I'll be right back."

She departed quickly, smiling at her daughter as she left, which seemed to snap her out of her paralysed state.

She marched over to the desk, dropping the glasses of what looked like cherry flavoured soda with more force than strictly necessary and wiping the condensation from her hands onto her jeans with angry movements.

"If you say you can't come over," she said, jabbing a finger into his chest and watching him wince out of instinct rather than pain, "then don't come over! Didn't it occur to you that I might use the opportunity to have friends-" she gestured wildly to Alya, "over for the night for a change?"

"I didn't think," he admitted, ears flattening to his head again, "I was just excited at getting a chance to see you."

Her face softened at that and it seemed she might have forgotten they weren't alone, as she moved towards him tenderly-

"WHY IS CHAT NOIR IN YOUR ROOM!?"

Alya had come back to her senses enough to shout out her shock and confusion at her best friend and Marinette winced as she turned to face her.

"Um, Chat, this is Alya. Alya, Chat," Chat nodded at her in acknowledgement, "He visits me from time to time."

"A lot," he amended. Marinette side-eyed him. He side-eyed her right back. All of a sudden he was feeling irrationally annoyed that Marinette had just tried to downplay his visits, and he was sure she would probably do the same with the nature of the same visits. Now that Alya was aware he knew her, was there really any reason to hide the rest anymore? Plus, he really wanted someone to talk to about his girlfriend other than snarky Plagg or her teasing parents.

"Okay, a lot. We, uh, talk and...uh, watch movies and...um..."

"Make-out?" he offered cheekily.

Both girls reacted simultaneously.

"WHAT!?"

"CHAT!"

"Here you are, dear. Another bowl."

He lifted his arms away from where he'd flung them over his head to protect himself from Marinette's wrath and peeked out at Sabine as she approached. She placed the bowl on the tray with the other two and turned to Alya.

"So has Marinette explained to you about her little stray then? We're quite fond of him." To Chat's surprise she reached up to scratch him behind the leather-like ear atop his head and his eyes dropped instantly in involuntary appreciation. She pulled back quickly and he was glad as having his girlfriend's mother pet him could get weird quickly.

"How long has he been visiting here?" Alya asked and when Chat turned to look, she was addressing Sabine, not his Princess. Marinette looked a little guilty as if she knew her earlier attempt at hiding their relationship had temporarily lost her Alya's trust, especially when discussing him.

"Oh, months," Sabine told her honestly, "She tried to keep it from her father and me at first but we know about everything that goes on under this roof. Everything."

The emphasis on the last word seemed to be hinting at something else as she deliberately looked only at Alya.

"For instance, we knew they were a couple before they did."

Chat's face turned scarlet at the reminder that Sabine and Tom loved to tease the two of them at every opportunity and it had only gotten so much worse since they had officially gotten together.

"But you can't feed a stray without your parents noticing all the extra food that goes missing."

Alya smirked at the other girl suddenly and Chat was hit with a sudden wave of realisation that he had made a grave mistake in thinking he could team up with Alya for gossip. Instead, he'd given Tom and Sabine a new ally in the embarrassment game.

"M, don't you know that feeding a stray only makes them come back again?" she asked and he breathed an internal sigh of relief, "Unless you wanted him to keep coming back?"

Chat's chest tightened again as she spoke and he watched her wink at Marinette, who had begun to resemble her crimson drink in colour.

To avoid feeling awkward, he picked up the bowl Sabine had brought him and started to serve himself from the tray of food.

“I'll just leave you two to explain yourselves then,” Sabine said, smirking as she made her way towards the stairs and disappearing under the trapdoor. As soon as she was gone, Alya rounded on him.

“You're dating my best friend,” she stated rather than asked.

“I am,” he replied before dropping to the floor in front of the chaise and starting to eat his noodles with the chopsticks Sabine had brought for him. In response to his apparent nonchalance, Marinette sighed before moving to collect food for herself. Alya turned to her as she finished and pointed aggressively.

“You kept this from me.” This time it was more like an accusation.

“Clearly,” Marinette said, making her way over to the chaise and sitting on it next to Chat so that he was on her left on the floor. He shifted a little and rested his head against her leg both for physical comfort and because it made him feel warm inside to be touching her so casually before he returned to eating.

She took a bite of her noodles using a fork (she had admitted to him back when he started bringing in takeaway food that she was awful with chopsticks, despite her mother using them around her forever) before continuing.

“You run the Ladyblog Alya. You half kill yourself chasing him and Ladybug around the city for interviews and the latest news on them. I didn't know how you'd react.”

“You thought-”

“I didn't know! I wanted to believe you'd keep it a secret but, it would be huge for your hit count, so I don't know. Or even if you did keep it quiet, I wasn't sure you wouldn't try to corner him for an interview every time he came over here.”

Chat left his chopsticks in the bowl and reached up under Marinette's thigh to gently place his hand against the side of her knee. He rubbed his thumb back and forth in a calming gesture.

Alya actually looked a little ashamed of herself when her best friend was done talking. Absent-mindedly, Chat wondered if she'd already considered throwing interview questions at him before Marinette had told her about her concerns and was now realising how selfish that was.

“I promise I won't,” she said quietly, looking like she might cry if Marinette responded less than favourably towards her. He squeezed his Princesses knee gently to show she had support regardless of how she wanted to respond.

Finally, Marinette sighed heavily before smiling.

“Grab a bowl before everything gets cold,” she said before going back to her own food.

Alya followed her instructions before joining Marinette on the chaise so that Chat found himself seated between the two girls as they lapsed into an easy conversation while they ate.

* * *

“Don't think I'm not going to demand every little detail about you two for my own curiosity,” Alya said a little later, food finished.

“Ah, there it is,” Chat joked in response, smirking widely, “she's started wheedling already.”

“And,” she continued, ignoring him, “I am going to want the odd little tidbit from you-” she looked directly at him, “-just to fill up my posts every now and then. Nothing major, and no interviews. Just, every so often can you tell me something about you powers or suit or whatever that we don't already know? Harmless stuff.”

He bit his lip as he considered. He'd probably have to run it by Ladybug first but he didn't see the harm. The downside of that would be that he was going to have to tell Ladybug about having a girlfriend first. As much as he adored dating Marinette, there was something about telling your first love that you'd found someone else that just didn't appeal to him. He had avoided it so far but it had to be done eventually. And he was sure that once she was up to speed, Ladybug wouldn't have a problem with him telling Alya some little things.

He glanced up at Marinette to see what she thought of the idea as well and was rewarded for his consideration by her fingers stroking through his hair and lightly scratching at his scalp as she smiled down at him fondly. Immediately his eyes drooped and his jaw went slack as he relaxed, a rumbling noise beginning to reverberate from his chest and throat.

“Oh _mon Dieu_ , he purrs!” Alya gasped.

He heard Marinette giggle and the feeling of being petted combined with the beautiful tinkling sound sent him into a nuzzling fit. He rubbed his face against her leg as he heard her answer her best friend.

“Yeah, he has a few things that make him act like a real cat. Turns out his claws are retractable too, for instance.”

Due to his petting induced haze, he completely missed the dangerous grin Alya threw Marinette.

“My, my, M. What on earth have you two been _up to_ that he would need to retract his claws for?”

He got soaked when Marinette spat out her drink all over him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 26: The Stray
> 
> The next couple of chapters already exist on my Tumblr @paganinpurple
> 
> I tag everything I write as "PIP writes" and these chapters are all tagged "MariChat May 2017"


	17. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat takes Marinette out on her first date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in two days? What on earth? Haha, this one was written early on so it was always going to be posted quickly. Tomorrow shall wield another update too if everything goes according to plan *fingers crossed*

 

They couldn't go on dates. They'd talked about it so often he could quote the reasons why they couldn't. It didn't make it suck any less.

He didn't want Marinette being kidnapped by every Akuma Hawkmoth made, which meant no one could know who he was dating. And the press would be all over them if they tried to go on a normal date like a concert or dinner or something. It was just too dangerous for her and he was not going to put his sweet Princess in danger.

So “date nights” had become very predictable. A film on Marinette's projector screen, some take-out she ordered (and he insisted on paying for) and lots of cuddling. Not that he didn't enjoy it, it was amazing getting to spend time with his first girlfriend, but he missed having the variety other teens did. He wanted to visit other places with her, somewhere more exciting than her living room when they dropped down to play games with her parents. He wanted to spoil her with something incredible.

Which was why he was so proud of this idea.

“You doing okay back there Princess?” he asked turning his head slightly to catch sight of her in his peripheral vision over his shoulder.

“Mmmhmm,” she murmured, arms wrapped around his neck and legs clamped around his middle. He needed all four of his limbs to move safely and so she was having to hold on to him by herself, only his tail wrapped around her middle for security. Her eyes were tight shut against the wind.

He extended his baton as high as it would go and tipped it, his final destination in sight. He landed gracefully and crouched to allow the girl on his back to reach the ground.

“We're here,” he said, patting her leather-clad arm gently, “You can get down now.”

Slowly, Marinette uncurled herself and dropped a foot down gingerly to find the ground. Once her toes felt solid purchase she relaxed and let go, her custom self-made Chat jacket brushing against his throat. She opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings in amazement as he straightened up again.

“Are we...?” she asked in shock, realising where he'd brought them.

“Voilà!” he said, turning with his arms outspread to give dramatic flair to his reveal of the crossbeams _above_ the third viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower.

He'd worked hard and taken several trips up the tower to bring up what he needed to truly impress his girlfriend. There was an extremely large piece of wooden platform he'd placed across the beams for them to walk across and he'd spread out a pile of warm blankets and cushions on one half of it, complete with a mini picnic of _viennoise au chocolat_ and flutes of apple cider. Yes, he'd gone with flutes for a touch of class.

He turned to look at her as she took it all in, her hand lifting up to smother a gasp she made in amazement.

“Oh _mon Dieu_ ,” she whispered, “when did you find time to do all this?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he told her smirking. He made his way over to the empty side of the platform and crouched down to press a button on the battery powered docking station he'd brought up with the rest of the trappings. Immediately the area was filled with the sounds of upbeat music as his playlist started and he adjusted the volume, internally thanking Nino for his song suggestions earlier in the week which he'd discreetly gotten without giving away any details of why he needed them at all.

He rose from his crouch and turned, ready to act extremely suave and do his best to fluster his favourite girl. As he pivoted round, however, he was surprised to find her directly behind him, leaning up and in towards his chest, hands behind her back.

“I can't believe you did this for me,” she said, blinking prettily. He felt his face heat up at how she was considering him and made a vow to himself right there and then to do everything in his power to make her look at him like that as often as possible. She was so unbelievably beautiful that he felt stunned.

She held his gaze for a moment as she slowly and purposely blinked at him, before reaching up on tiptoes to quickly peck him on the lips. She pulled away before he could properly react, giggling and dashing into the middle of his makeshift dance floor as the next song started, immediately starting to move her hips and swaying to the beat.

He shook his head, clearing his mind and smirked in her direction. He darted across to meet her, grabbing her hips and moving with her to the sounds of Rag'n'Bone Man's _Human._ It didn't matter that neither of them had more than a passing understanding of the song's English lyrics. It didn't matter that they'd be unable to use the tower for further dates for a while to avoid people catching on. He just wanted to have fun and he wanted her to as well.

After they'd danced themselves ragged to multiple songs and laid on the blankets eating the snacks (Marinette stole all the chocolate chips from the outside of one of his pieces of _viennoise au chocolat_ and acted infuriatingly innocent about it) then danced some more as the cool air chilled them, they finally settled down, several warm blankets wrapped around them both.

Chat squeezed his arms around her where she was seated in his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“So, good night? For it being your first real date with me, I mean?” he asked, sounding calm despite the nerves fluttering in his stomach.

“Yes,” she told him, “Good for it being my first real date _ever_ too.”

“Really?” he asked, a little shocked and a lot elated, “The prettiest girl I know never got swept off her feet for so much as a film before?”

He watched her dip her head and smile softly, embarrassed but pleased by the compliment. She shook her head a little before turning it to rest her cheek against his.

“Not even a certain boat-ride counted then?” he asked quietly, unsure why it worried him what her answer would be, when he knew without a doubt what she was going to say.

“Of course not.” He could practically feel her rolling her eyes.

He kissed her on the cheek sweetly before cuddling back into her again. “Then I'm glad we both get to have our first date tonight.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 20: Night On The Town


	18. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first date continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set immediately after the end of the last chapter

“So you've never been on any other dates before either?” she asked, head still resting against him gently as she sat in his lap.

“No. This might surprise you, but I'm actually a really shy person.”

She laughed a little at that and untangled herself from him and the blankets, standing and stretching before walking towards the edge of their makeshift platform. She leant on a support beam for the tower as she approached an area of open air and looked down at the street and the tower spotlights shining up towards them. His heart leapt into his throat with apprehension in case she fell. As much as he adored her she was still clumsy.

“I don't know Kitty, a part of me had you pegged for the kind who jumped onto other girls balconies and serenaded them, or recited poetry,” she joked as she turned to watch his reaction, a smirk planted firmly on her face.

“Ah yes, totally forgot. That's me alright,” he said, attempting not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the image, but snickering as he spoke anyway. He got up from his toasty blanket cocoon and ran for the edge she was standing at, hearing her gasp as he launched himself over the threshold and caught the beam with his claws to defy gravity, pivoting so he was facing her still. He planted his feet against the tower and from his perch he glanced up at her and leant back, one hand still holding him up and the other outstretched dramatically.

“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?” he declared suddenly, delighting in the crimson flush that stained Marinette's face, “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”

“Chat! Stop!” she said, mortified, tucking her hair behind her ears in what looked like an awkward move to keep her hands busy.

“I'd love to argue and tease you some more, but I don't know the rest,” he admitted, “I'd compare you to a summer's day as well, but I don't know any more of that either.”

He leapt back onto the platform beside her as she laughed, face still red and heated looking. When he raised his hand to her cheek however, all he could feel was the cold of the night air on her skin.

“Marinette, you're freezing!” he said abruptly, “Oh man, I should get you home before you catch a cold or something. Maybe you can wrap up in a fleecy blanket on the wa-”

“No!” she cut him off, “I want to stay a little longer. Please? We can just cuddle up in the blankets again.”

He looked her over suspiciously, considering the possible ramifications of the options available to him. Her parents wouldn't be happy if she got ill and Alya would probably kill him, but...

“Okay,” he said eventually and she smiled at him as a small shiver ran through her body, “but let's get you under them quickly so you don't feel the cold as bad as you do now.”

He only meant to let them stay out a little bit longer. But it was so much warmer laying under all the different blanket layers. And it only continued to heat up further when Marinette placed her lips against his throat and grazed her teeth the way he liked. It eventually turned out to be two full hours before he finally, _finally_ insisted he take her home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 4: "Romeo, Romeo..."


	19. Pictures and Numbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat suggests a way to show the world he spoils his girl without giving away who she is

 

“What are you doing?”

Chat looked up from the screen on his baton to meet Marinette's face, giving her a crooked smile in embarrassment from his place seated amongst their blankets.

“Nothing,” he said quickly, despite knowing that she wouldn't believe him for a second.

Her eyes narrowed as he watched and she ceased combing her hands through her now loose hair to move closer to him.

“Chaaat...” she warned as she approached. She reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist to twist his baton screen to face her. He remained limp and let her, offering no resistance what-so-ever. She looked at him in equal parts shock and embarrassment when she caught sight of the image of herself on the screen, caught in a candid shot as she untangled a strand of hair from her jacket zip, the lights from the tower behind her and giving her an ethereal glow.

“You just looked really pretty,” he told her honestly, trying desperately to convey tenderness in his voice and expression as he explained. She'd been trying to straighten up her appearance before he took her home and she'd just been so relaxed and un-posed and _gorgeous_...

“Uh...” she said, her usual sharp wit failing her for a moment, “Why...um...Don't you have - Was that other picture of me not enough for you?”

He smirked seductively as he remembered the cheeky snap he'd taken of her when she had been magically aged by ten years. That had been a couple of months ago. Their relationship had been too fresh at the time of the incident for him to properly appreciate that he was allowed to look at her the way he wanted to. So to still have a photograph to glance back at from time to time - now that he was a little more comfortable doing so - was amazing.

“Hey, that picture is awesome. I look at it every chance I get,” he said, voice low, “Doesn't mean I don't want more.”

She blushed and he imagined pumping his fist in victory at affecting her like that. She smiled slightly and moved to sit down beside him again and as she did, he gently guided her into his lap instead so he could rest his forehead against hers comfortably. She smiled and pressed her lips to his gently at first; he had to pull back as she swiftly tried to initiate something much more heated.

“Hey,” he whispered in a strained voice, “don't you think there's been enough of that? We just decided you're going home to warm up.”

She pouted at him in what was obviously fake annoyance, before giving an exaggerated sigh of acceptance. The look didn't last however, as she suddenly scrunched up her face in confusion. She looked at him again and he wondered what had her so puzzled.

“Wait - how often do you get a chance to look at that picture?” she asked him, “you never look at it when you're with me and when you're with Ladybug you don't, um, I mean you probably don't have a lot of time to look through pictures.”

“Oh,” he replied as a spike of warmth spread rapidly across his face, “I, um, sent it to my phone. So I can look at it when I'm not Chat.” Her eyes widened and she looked shocked. He felt his face burn and prayed to _Dieu_ that she wouldn't comment or ask about _when_ or _why_ he might be looking at it.

“You can send things between your baton and your phone?” she asked with amazement in her voice. He let out a huge breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.

“Uh yeah, look.”

He lifted the baton to show the picture of her he'd taken a moment ago and held his thumb against the screen. A list of options appeared along the bottom of the screen. The most prominent was a small symbol of a Ladybug with an arrow overlapping it slightly right in the centre, but as she watched he instead chose a similar icon of a phone with an arrow. It was much smaller and off to the right-hand side and he would never have known it was there if he hadn't tried every single one of the icons one night when looking for this exact function.

She gasped and covered her mouth as it brought up a new screen with only two options so far; one which said “My Phone,” and another, “Enter/Save New Number.”

“I never knew about that,” she said, looking elated, “What else does it do?”

“Well, it has social media apps,” he said, backing out of the screen to show her an icon of a globe which opened into a list of all the popular social medium available.

“Hey,” he said as an idea hit him suddenly, “how would you feel about me putting up pictures on Insta?” Her expression was suddenly very panicked looking and he held up his free hand to show he meant no harm.

“Not of your face or anything to give away who you are. Just things like...how I've got the tower set up for our date, or a selfie but cropped so only our smiles are in view or something? I wanna show you off however I can.”

He tipped his head down and looked up at her through his lashes, putting on an adorable pout he knew she wouldn't be able to refuse. It was a look photographers had been coaching out of him for years now and he had it perfected.

“What about Ladybug? What does she think about this?” she asked.

“I'll have to talk to her,” he assured her, “and you'd both have to agree. I wouldn't do something if either of you were against it, but I'm sure she'd be okay with it if I'm careful. So...can I put up pictures of you?”

She took the baton from him as she considered it, silently backing up a few screens until she was on the photo of herself. He watched as she looked at herself for as moment before she selected the phone share option. Just as he was about to ask her what she was doing she selected an option and typed her in what he assumed was her own number.

She saved the number under “Princess” and gave the baton back to him. He just stared in surprise.

“Work out how to phone and text people other than Ladybug,” she told him, “and send me a message so I can save your number, Pretty Kitty. I want to be able to message you when you're not at my house. I'd hate to have to use your Instagram as the only way of finding out what you're up to.”

She smirked at him. He smiled back hesitantly as a whole new list of issues occurred to him suddenly, his worries having no apparent regard for his elation at Marinette finding a way to bring them closer.

“That's a yes by the way,” she added, shivering, “And you can take me home now. I am _freezing_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5: The Baton
> 
> Those worries are going to be covered in the next chapter, before you start to wonder what they are.
> 
> This one kept going a little off script, as it were. I knew I wanted him to reveal their weapons connect to social media then it would lead to him asking if he could post discreet shots to Instagram. I also wanted her to give him her number and suggest he text her during the day to help lead into what's planned for next chapter.  
> But these kids would just not do that. Their conversation kept drifting off into other things because trying to get back on track felt forced. 
> 
> It was annoying because the actual prose was pretty easy to do this time, despite my splitting tension headache. But I guess I got there in the end.


	20. Strange Capers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat gets lost in his thoughts while taking Marinette home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Two updates in a day? What the hell is wrong with me?   
> Ah yes, I'm avoiding having to do the dishes.

****As Chat helped Marinette climb onto his back and gently began his journey across the rooftops of Paris, he let his troubled mind wander.

They seemed to have skipped a few steps when they first started dating and now they were making up for earlier ones. She'd given him her number, and she wanted his. She'd said she wanted to message him when he wasn't at hers. He could see potential problems with that.

First of all was that if he wasn't with her, he was doing one of two things; he was either with Ladybug, fighting or patrolling, or he was being Adrien. Neither of those things left him any way to really talk to her. He either had no time or no access to his baton.

He supposed it was possible that Plagg would know if she was trying to message him while he was untransformed. But what were the chances he could convince the kwami to actually tell him? And then how would he respond? He couldn't run off to the bathroom and transform every time he wanted to answer her.

Texting her from his own phone was just a **bad idea** , and besides it wasn't even a little bit possible. Marinette already had Adrien's number because they had swapped them last month. They had needed a way to arrange times to work on a school project they'd been assigned and so her phone would bring up his civilian name if he tried to text it as Chat.

Considering that the technology in his baton was quite diverse, he suspected there might be a workaround in some way. Maybe it could be set to divert messages from her number straight to his own phone. That way he could receive anything she sent him without relying on Plagg. But how would he answer? Was it possible to send a message from his phone to Marinette via a divert to make it look like it came from the baton? He'd need to discuss this in depth with Plagg and hope to high heaven that he was in a helpful mood. He was going to need a lot of extra Camembert on hand to bribe him with.

So, what if he did get it all sorted out eventually? If he worked out a way to text her, where would they go from there? Just casually send her memes and things in class while she sat right behind him? Someone would be bound to notice if they both sat smiling at their phones at the same time, especially Alya since she would know who Marinette was texting and she had a perfect angle in class to see his phone screen at some point.

Nino would want to know who else Adrien was messaging since all his friends were all in one place together and it wasn't any of them. He hadn't yet let Nino in on the fact that he had a girlfriend for that exact reason. How would he explain where he would have met someone without giving away that it was someone he already knew? And since the only people Adrien knew were from school, Nino would realise that he must know his best friends girlfriend too. He wasn't stupid, he'd work out who it was just by how Adrien interacted with her. And then how would he explain that Marinette didn't actually know that she was dating him? This was going to be difficult to navigate.

The only way he could see this working was if he let Marinette know who he was.

And that scared him. A lot.

She had been so smitten with him as Adrien (and for quite a while according to Nino when he'd asked) but...she had moved away from any nervousness around him since he'd found out. Which led him to believe she'd gotten over him. Then there was the obvious question of how she'd feel knowing that he'd been visiting her as Chat while she had been working through her feelings on his rejection.

Yes, rejection. Because he had rejected her. She'd gotten up the nerve to finally say she liked him and he'd told her he didn't like her back. And then he'd started dating her while pretending to be someone else.

He knew logically it wasn't as black and white as that. He _hadn't_ liked her back when she'd told him. It'd taken time spent hanging out with her, hanging out with not-completely-flustered-and-actually-able-to-show-what-she-was-really-like Marinette for him to start falling for her. He'd never intended to deceive her, it was just part of having a secret identity, unfortunately. A part that would probably mean he'd lose her once she finally knew. She'd hate him.

But...

What if...

What if she didn't hate him? What if one day he could actually take her out on dates in public without everyone turning to stare? Adrien might be famous but model fame was nothing compared to superhero fame. What if he could bring her to his house instead of always imposing on her? What if he could flirt with her in class in front of people instead of being forced to act like he had nothing but platonic feelings for her? What if he could touch her skin with his own when they made-out instead of being forced to endure his suit as a barrier between them?

What if he no longer had to wonder about whether or not his suit could come off, in case they ever wanted to go further? Because their make-out sessions were getting seriously more and more heated all the time. Hands were starting to wander and finding out what they were going to be able to do was _so_ not a conversation he wanted to have to have with Plagg.

He fought down all of his inappropriate thoughts as he started to approach Marinette's neighbourhood. The last thing he wanted was for her to notice that he'd gotten turned on again on the way to her house.

“Princess,” he said sweetly as he landed on her balcony, “we're here.”

She climbed down from him and he turned around to face her, a look of adoration on his face which made her eyes flit around nervously. She blushed and smiled at him, giving him a playful shove to his shoulder to offset her embarrassment.

“You're such a dork,” she told him affectionately.

“We that are true lovers run into strange capers,” he said in return.

She looked at him strangely, obviously confused.

“Wait, is that Shakespeare too?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said breathlessly, “It's from _As You Like It_. I've actually studied that one, so I know it better than the others.”

“Oh,” she chuckled, “I've never heard of it. What's it about?”

His smile turned sheepish as he cupped her face in his hand, retracting his claws to avoid scratching her by accident.

“Lovers in disguise,” he whispered as he leant in to kiss her good night.

She leant into his chest as she kissed him back. He pulled back eventually, aware that he needed to let her get inside to warm up and that he should be heading home. Saying goodnight, he leapt to the roof of the school building across the street, running as she watched him go.

He had to talk to Ladybug about it first, and he was almost certain she would not be happy with his plans, but he'd finally decided that he really wanted Marinette to know who he was.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 10: What if...?


	21. Hope For The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has a familiar, yet somehow different visitor

****Marinette stood on her balcony, staring out after where Chat had left thirty minutes ago. She sighed heavily and reduced her delighted beaming to a small happy smile instead. She desperately tried to repress the squeal that wanted to make it's way up her throat as she definitely did not want to wake her parents. They hadn't even know she'd left their home.

But the questions bubbled in her head now that her night had slowed down. Just how were you meant to act after your cat-like boyfriend takes you on the most amazing date of your life? One that was likely to remain up there as years went by? Especially when it had been your first real date? A picnic and dancing on the beams above the closed observation deck of the lit up Eiffel Tower. She was sure no other teenager's first date would ever compare to that. Instead of squealing she gave a silly little wiggle dance to expel some of the excited energy she was feeling. There that was a little better.

As she was attempting to wind down her mind, she heard a scraping from behind her as if something was climbing up the side of the building. She frowned and turned to face the noise just as a deep voice spoke to her.

“Princess.”

At first she was simply confused. He'd left ages ago, and he'd been heading in the opposite direction. Why had he come back at all? But then the figure stood up and there was no doubt that this wasn't her kitty.

She glanced over him as her chest fluttered in fear rather than her earlier butterflies. He looked somewhat like Chat but he was much taller and broader than the boy she cared for. He had the mask right and the green sclera and slitted pupils. The ears were also the same as she remembered but the rest of the suit looked...peculiar somehow.

It was then that he flashed her that Cheshire cat smile she knew so well and all thoughts of fleeing downstairs disappeared with it's appearance.

“Chat!?” she asked, “What happened? Why are you...? Why do you look...?”

Words completely failed her and instead she gaped openly at him as he meandered towards her. She took an unconscious step towards him and again noticed something wrong with his suit as he moved. She reached her hand out as if to touch it. It looked soft.

Fur. His suit appeared to be covered in a light layer of fur. He reached out to her as he approached and moved to place his palm against her cheek, stopping just short and letting it hover in front of her instead. Her outstretched hand came into contact with his other arm. The fur was just as soft as it appeared.

“Wow,” he said, his voice much deeper and gravelly than she was used to, “I knew you'd be young but I forgot just how cute you were back then.”

“Wha...” Marinette sputtered ineloquently.

“I don't have long,” he told her, his hand finally ghosting across her face and thumb brushing back a strand of hair from the corner of her mouth, “there's an...incident. In 2028, my time. I've been thrown back but she'll fix it soon enough. One day you're going to tell me and you said I wasn't here long.”

“You're...the future...is it an akuma!?” she asked in agitated disappointment. She had certainly hoped they would have defeated Hawkmoth long before 2028 ever came around.

He laughed at that and because it was the same full belly kind of laugh that he used now, she felt better instantly. “No. There's not been any akuma for a long time 'Nette. We stopped him.”

'Nette. No one had ever called her 'Nette. She kind of liked it. His thumb was still brushing against her face gently and she had a very sudden, uncalled for desire to turn and kiss it. Her face turned crimson at the thought and she internally berated herself for thinking it.

“Why Princess, are you checking me out?”

Nope. Never mind. Now she was crimson. Scarlet. They hadn't invented a name for the deep shade of red she was wearing. She snapped her eyes away from him and instead focused on a spot over his left shoulder to avoid having to acknowledge the way he was looking at her, smugness evident in his smirk.

“Hey, don't be embarrassed,” he said coyly, “It's good to know my number one girl finds me attractive no matter what my age.”

He'd called her his number one girl. Was this some kind of indication that her and Chat were going to last then? She'd avoided thinking about it so far but she'd been worried it could never really work out long-term. They'd only had their first official date tonight because they couldn't really be seen together out in public. Not as a superhero and a regular teenage girl. But this meant they could go the distance like she'd hoped.

In front of her, she noticed his body was starting to turn semi-transparent and his hand suddenly tingled where it touched her face, like a pins and needles sensation. He was leaving. Or disappearing or something. She suddenly didn't want him to go. She wanted to ask him a thousand questions about everything he'd experienced since he'd been her adorable, silly cat boy.

Just as she was ready to cry out to him or try to grab his suit to keep him with her, he leaned down and kissed her forehead sweetly, his lips lingering while he spoke.

“Don't worry Bugaboo,” he said, making her gasp as she realised he definitely knew who she was, “all the secrets will be over soon enough.”

And then Marinette was left alone on her balcony once again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 14: Age-up Chat Noir
> 
> My daughter flooded the bathroom today when she stuffed the toilet full of paper and flushed constantly in an attempt to get rid of the blockage. Then she hid because she didn't want to get into trouble, leaving me to discover it on my own. I've had to throw out my carpet and it soaked through the floor and damaged my kitchen light. Nothing seems to be going well for me on this holiday from work.


	22. Stealth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is determined to keep something hidden from Chat, which isn't easy when her boyfriend has the ability to sneak up on her silently.

****“You know I might need to rethink the whole BFF thing if you're gonna be like this,” Marinette said, glaring at where her phone was propped up against her sewing box, Alya giving her a satisfied smirk from the screen.

“Please, you need me girl! Who else is going to give you tips for your secret love life?” she said with a wink, pushing her glasses up her nose. Suddenly her eyes seemed to snap to the top corner of her screen, her grin widening and becoming vaguely evil. Marinette, of course, missed all of this, distracted as she was by her attempts to mend some of the decorative stitching on the sleeve of her leather jacket. She snorted at Alya's words in disgust before speaking. She seriously regretted ever gossiping to Alya about her boyfriend and now she especially hated that she had confided in her about the older Chat visiting her two nights ago, right after her date.

“I do not need those sort of tips, _merci beaucoup._ And it's your fault my jacket tore by the way. You can't just stuff something like that into my pocket without expecting me to rip my arm out of your hand! And in public! I was so mortified Alya,” she groaned.

“What were you mortified about?” a masculine voice asked from behind her and Marinette scrambled to catch the needle she had just thrown in the air without hurting herself.

“I'll see you tomorrow M!” Alya shouted through her repressed laughter before disconnecting the call. As if she wasn't already on Marinette's shit-list for today.

“Chat! You're too quiet, you scared me,” she said, swivelling her chair around to face her intruder, “How'd your patrol go?” She knew it was his turn to patrol alone tonight and had been surprised when he'd tried to contact her as Ladybug only five minutes in. Tikki had informed her that he had called, followed almost immediately by a message saying that it was nothing and not to worry. Was it wrong to want to pry a little under the guise of her civilian self? Probably.

“It was fine,” he said, no hint of obvious distress, “Got a bit bored. Tried calling Ladybug to talk about...something, but then realised because it was her off night that I was probably bothering her. I'm much happier now I'm here.” He smiled seductively.

“What did you want to talk to her about?” she asked.

His breath caught in his throat and he tried to play it off with a cough, but she had noticed.

“Oh, nothing much,” he clearly _lied_ , which annoyed her to no end. She supposed she would find out eventually since he wanted to talk to Ladybug, so she decided to let it go for the moment.

“Hey, _Mamam_ and _Papa_ said they wanted to talk to you for a minute when you got here. I've no idea why,” she added, seeing his confused look in her direction, “Do you want to pop downstairs and get us some drinks? They'll take advantage of the opportunity to talk to you and we can get it out of the way.”

He didn't look any less confused at her lack of explanation, but at least he didn't appear to be worried about what they might want to speak to him about. He seemed to have developed a thicker skin for their teasing lately.

Marinette watched him head across her room and descend through her trapdoor with a soft smile on her face, which disappeared the moment he did. Instead she slipped into a state of panic and flailed as she whispered for Tikki. She needed to ask for some quick advice on where to hide the 'present' Alya had forced on her earlier.

* * *

 

One short and hushed conversation later and Tikki was back in hiding, while Marinette was crawling across her bed, shoving her unwanted gift under her pillow and out of sight.

She let out a huge sigh of relief and turned to scoot back towards the steps, only to squeal as she spotted Chat watching her from where he stood at the top of the small staircase. Her heart-rate picked up as she tried desperately to act nonchalant.

“What are you hiding?” Chat asked with a crooked smile, sounding as equally curious as he did mocking and amused.

“You need to stop sneaking up on me!” she demanded, ignoring his question and watching as he moved up to the mattress to join her. He looked at her as he moved but his eyes flicked away to the top of the bed, betraying his intentions to her. In a sudden burst of desperation, she decided to distract him from the pillow he obviously had his eye on by tapping his bell, much like she sometimes did as Ladybug. It rang out, not exactly loudly, but it still chimed enough to interrupt her own thoughts and remind her of something.

“Hang on,” she told him, still staring at the bell attached to the collar of his suit, “it rings.”

Chat raised his eyebrows as if unsure if she was still trying to distract him or making an honest observation, “Yeah?”

“It's just, you're able to sneak up on me. It doesn't ring when you do that, but it just rang when I flicked it.”

“Oh,” Chat said, suddenly looking puzzled as he dropped his smile and his gaze, looking down at the bell at his throat instead, “I never really thought about that.”

She tapped it again - and again it rang. Then she placed her hands either side of his shoulders and gently moved him from side to side quickly. He laughed and the bell moved in much the same way as it had a moment ago, but this time there was no noise.

“What _?_ ” he said, “Is that...it's quiet sometimes _on purpose?_ ”

“I don't know. Maybe it rings every time someone else touches it?” She placed her finger against the side of the bell and made a sweeping motion with her finger so the bell would move in a completely different way than before. The bell lifted with her but when it dropped there was no sound again. She grumbled and reached out to grab it in frustration but Chat moved out of her reach suddenly, the bell tinkling with the movement of his body.

“I guess it just has a mind of it's own,” he told her, and it was then that she realised he was using her preoccupation with his bell to move around her on the bed. He was attempting to reach her pillows again.

“No!” she yelled, grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking, forcing him to pivot on his knees so he was half facing her. He swiftly tried to turn back again and the ring of his bell sounded like an almost excited chime, to mimic his sudden playful attitude. It pissed her off.

As he made his final move to leap and drop to his stomach on the covers and grab for her pillow, she reached out and wrenched at the bell to stop him, turning him in mid-air. His momentum continued and he fell to the bed, landing part on his side and mostly on his back, arm outstretched and sliding under the pillow to help him regain his bearings. She found herself pulled down too, though she managed to throw her free arm out to take her weight so that she didn't slam into his chest completely.

His very bare chest.

Her eyes tracked down her previously outstretched arm. She could see the expanse of his chest and stomach as she followed it until she caught sight of the bell gripped in her small fist. It seemed that the bell was actually the pull tab for a zip which held Chat's suit closed. The damn thing remained stubbornly silent now despite the precarious position it had landed them in as she realised that this was the first time she'd ever seen the zip on the suit work. Up until now she'd assumed that it was either a fake or that it required Chat himself to be the one to open it, since she'd definitely grabbed it a few times during akuma battles without it giving an inch.

Marinette's worries ebbed away as her wide eyes roved over his unexpectedly exposed skin, aware but strangely unconcerned with how her half-naked boyfriend was laying beneath her, remaining very quiet other than his rapid and heavy breathing from their tussle.

She was just starting to come back to herself enough to consider trying to laugh off the embarrassment and pull the zip back up to his throat, when Chat pulled his hand back out from under her pillow with her 'gift' clasped in his clawed hand.

He turned his head to look at it, and she watched his pupils blow wide as he realised what it was, before snapping his head back to lock his shocked eyes with hers. Marinette didn't think her face could glow any brighter than it did at that moment.

“Marinette,” he said and she groaned in an embarrassed way she had recently hoped she was finally finished with forever, “why do you have a strip of condoms hidden in your bed?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 9: Bell Collar


	23. Nerves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has to balance embarrassment and nerves. Picks up immediately after the last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is shameless smut. If you don't want to read, it won't take away from the rest of the story.

“Oh, I am going to _kill_ Alya,” Marinette groaned as she dropped her head and tried to hide behind her hair. The effect was hindered by the fact that she still had it tied back in pigtails.

“I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed in my life,” she said, taking a deep breath, “And I'm including that morning after you first slept over.” She gave a slow long exhale as she tried to calm her racing heartbeat and noticed that Chat shuddered.

Because his suit was still wide open at the front. And she'd just blown air onto his chest.

She glanced back up at him to see that he'd dropped the foil strip to the side and was staring up at her ceiling, hands either side of his head palms up and bottom lip being chewed nervously between his teeth. He looked at her hesitantly when she moved and she realised that he appeared far more unsure of himself than she'd ever seen him before.

“I th-think,” he stammered, “that I may have you beat in the embarrassment game there.”

“ _Dieu_ , I'm sorry,” she squealed out and moved to get off of him, but to her surprise, he grabbed her arm to hold her in place. She stopped attempting to get off of him and he took his hand from her arm to search for the pocket on the now loose fabric of his suit. Marinette's jaw dropped when he produced three little foil wrappers with a self-conscious smile.

“At least yours came from your friend,” he said, blushing, “It was _your parent_ s who insisted I take these.”

Her eyes widened and her blush intensified even more than she ever thought possible.

“I'll fucking kill them,” she said, and Chat dropped the condoms onto the bed while simultaneously bursting into a fit of nervous giggles which soon proved to be infectious. Marinette found herself laughing along with him for several minutes while she struggled to remember why it had seemed so important to keep Alya's little 'gift' a secret from him.

She regained her ability to function before he did and she pulled back from where she had collapsed against his chest to watch as he slowly calmed his breathing and relaxed again beneath her. She ran the pads of her fingers up and down his sternum and marvelled at the soft smoothness of his skin. She noted that while she could feel muscle definition from his heroics, he still remained slim and lithe in appearance and didn't seem overly brawny. She definitely liked that about him.

She heard his breath hitch and looked up at his face to see that he was watching her as she ghosted her fingertips across him. His eyes were clouded with lust, but she was pleased to find a hidden sliver of nervousness remained. At least she knew she wasn't the only one who felt a little scared. She ran a shaking hand inside the suit to graze his ribs and side before drawing it across his stomach in short, unsure bursts of movement. Still hesitant and shaking, she slid the tips of her fingers beneath the belt of his costume where the zip had come to a stop and heard his breath catch again.

“Um, Princess?” he asked, hands flying to her shoulders suddenly where they started to clench and unclench rhythmically the way they did when they made out, “W-What are you...h-how far...um?” He trailed off in obvious discomfort, clearly hoping she'd understand what he was trying to ask. Luckily for him, she understood perfectly as she was just as concerned with what he wanted.

Equally embarrassed, Marinette scrunched up her shoulders and dipped her head to make herself smaller. “Not all the way,” she whispered, “And not everything at first, but...I do, uh, want...more.”

She flicked her eyes up to meet his and held them as she continued to speak, determined to see his reaction, “Do...you want more?”

“ _ **Dieu**_ **yes.** ”

He pushed himself up in one fluid movement so that he was sitting up and drawing her into his lap to straddle him. Marinette barely had enough time to register that he was kissing her before he was drawing away and peppering her neck with little pecks and nips instead. She gasped at the familiar sensations and pressed herself against his chest, feeling his body heat in a way she never had before, his arousal pressing against her pleasantly. She moaned as his teeth found her earlobe, hesitating for a moment when he scraped her earring before sucking around it instead.

She pushed the edges of his suit off of his shoulders and was surprised when the leather-like material seemed to loosen, almost like a balloon being deflated and losing its elasticity. The sleeves became baggy and she was able to push them down easily, trailing her fingers across his biceps as she did. She pushed the material off of his arms one at a time, although it turned out his gloves weren't actually attached to the rest and remained in place as the sleeves slid over them. He helped her to remove the top half of his outfit, letting it hang behind him and he turned a delicious shade of pink when Marinette gave in to a desire she'd carried for a while and attached her mouth to his neck, following the slope of his collar bone down to the tender skin there.

He moaned quietly and his hips bucked ever so slightly against her, before placing his hands under the hem of her t-shirt and dragging it up and over her head, where it became discarded. She returned her mouth to the juncture between his neck and shoulder and went about attempting to mark him as he squirmed. Normally he insisted on no hickeys as he found them far too difficult to hide considering how his high collar had restricted where she could leave them, but it seemed they were allowed if she targeted lower skin. She found that her breaths were starting to get shallower in a combination of the amazing sensations and terrifying jitters. Marinette knew herself well enough to know that she wanted this, but her heart was beating so irregularly with anxiety that she knew she would need to start something soon before she lost her nerve.

She pulled away from the blond boy's skin to press her mouth against his again, exploring his mouth with her tongue while he let her take charge of the kiss this time around. She dropped her hand from his shoulder and traced his stomach with her fingertips, feeling that pleasurable shudder again as he anticipated her touch. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies as she pushed gently against his chest with her other hand to encourage him to lie down again, and he followed her instruction perfectly, laying back and allowing her to lie next to him, a leg slung over one of his and upper body propped up on her left elbow.

He brought one hand up to cup her face as she continued to kiss him, her tongue stroking across his until he began to suck on it, which made her want to smile regardless of whether her mouth was currently busy or not. She glided her fingers down his pectoral and across his ribs, sweeping against his stomach as she moved lower. His whole body tensed as she slid her palm into his suit at the bottom, beneath where the zip had come to a stop. As suspected his suit was his only layer of clothing and her hand brushed through a patch of hair as she pressed further, her hand feeling its way beneath where his belt rested until she was palming his length. He gasped into her mouth and she began to rub her hand back and forth against him gently. His claws dug into her shoulder for a moment before he remembered to retract them.

She desperately ignored the spike of pain as she tried to keep kissing him but she began to find it was a much harder task than she'd realised. Her mind was distracted. Either she could concentrate on kissing or she could be conscious of how her hand was moving. How did other people do this? Surely it wasn't this difficult to split attention to two different things? She broke away from the kiss, annoyed with herself and with a new determination to learn how to multitask in future situations. His eyes opened lazily to watch her as she turned her face away from him to follow the movement of her hand. Unsure of her movements she changed from simply running her flattened hand against him to attempting to grip him despite how tight his costume was.

He made a strange noise and she glanced back at him, her chest tightening with concern and embarrassment at perhaps doing something wrong. He slid his own hand beneath his costume too and placed it over hers, repositioning it on him slightly. The black material seemed to loosen off and she wasn't sure if it was because her hand had moved or if it was part of the same magic that had made his upper suit easier to remove earlier. Right now she wasn't inclined to care.

“Slowly at first and gentle,” Chat told her, his face so red he appeared sunburned, and Marinette did so, her hand becoming damp as she slicked it over his head and bringing it back down his length. It felt kind of odd, a weird combination of wet and sticky, but she didn't mind. Chat shuddered harder as she grew more confident in her movements and suddenly Marinette felt a realisation hit her hard.

 _This was happening._ She was touching him. Hopefully, he'd be touching her soon as well. She wasn't losing her virginity tonight but she was taking steps towards it. Because she wanted to lose it. Eventually. And to Chat. The pressure to do well was intense, but then so was the excitement.

She continued to move her hand as he suggested, sliding her hand up over more of the moisture that had collected at the top of his head again and helping it spread across him to lubricate her movements. One of his hands grabbed at her hair as he groaned, pushing into it behind the hair tie which loosened her hair but also gave him something to grip onto without hurting her, while the other gripped her sheets tightly. His head flung back and eyes fluttered closed, and Marinette was suddenly overwhelmed with the power she held over him at this exact moment.

The noises he was making were because of her. They were her doing and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she decided to stop he wouldn't complain, despite what it would do to him. He moaned her name and she bit her lip as a sharp coil of heat sunk in her belly, dropping down to create an uncomfortable yet not unpleasant heat between her legs. She squeezed them against Chat's leg as she watched her Pretty Kitty come undone, thrusting into her hand in an attempt to gain more friction. She picked up her pace, taking his body's actions as her cue and tried desperately to ignore the ache which was starting to build in her wrist. She bit her lip to distract herself from the pain, determined not to disappoint the writhing mess of boy relying on her.

Just as she felt tears beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes and was considering trying to change the angle of her wrist, she felt his body tense and the hand in her hair gripped tighter, pulling out one of her pigtails completely by accident. He gave a high-pitched keening noise for a split second before it developed into a deeper cry and she jumped as she felt his release against her hand. Her face burned in embarrassment at being surprised considering she had expected it but decided Chat was probably too high up on cloud nine to notice. She continued to move her hand, slowing her movements as he spent himself.

She let go of him with an astounding feeling of accomplishment rather than embarrassment and reached above the bed for the box of tissues she kept there. She wiped off her hand as she watched him drift back to reality and blink up at her happily. He took a tissue from the box when she offered them and turned away from her to clean himself up, his embarrassment clearly resurfacing now that he was back to thinking more clearly. He tossed the tissue aside with the one she had used and flopped back onto the bed, eyes half closed and relaxed.

“Oh _mon Dieu_ , that was awesome,” he said softly, a huge grin taking over his face and Marinette couldn't help but smile mischievously herself. His face changed suddenly, his ears standing up straight on top of his head and he nervously scratched the back of his neck before speaking again as a small blush returned to his already flushed skin.

“Lie down?” he asked and Marinette's already rosy complexion heated further as she heard the unasked question he really wanted an answer to. _Can I touch you?_ She bit her lip and nodded.

Before she could roll from her side to her back, he leant in quickly to kiss her aggressively. Marinette found she needed to turn her head and gasp in a breath before returning the kiss as he had managed to literally take her breath away with his sudden intensity. He guided her onto her back firmly but gently and placed feather light touches across her sides and her stomach while she did her best to remember to breathe. One of his hands gingerly dragged against the side of her breast before sliding away and he continued the motion again before Marinette lost her patience. When his hand ghosted across her bra the next time, she shifted herself so that his hand sat atop her breast instead and his tongue suddenly hesitated in its investigation of her mouth.

She decided to take over the responsibility of their kiss in case he was having much the same issue she had earlier and dragged her tongue across his bottom lip to slow his movement and allow him to relinquish control for the time being. She moaned lightly as his hand kneaded the breast she had placed it on and his thumb rubbed across the nipple beneath the material. She propped herself up on her elbows until she had found a comfortable balance before reaching around herself and unclasping her bra. Chat sat back to give her space as she dropped the straps down bashfully and threw the garment aside before dropping back to the bed.

Chat remained sitting frozen for a moment at the sight of her naked from the waist up and she began to feel very self-conscious under his scrutiny. Anxiously, she brought her legs up higher to place her feet flat on the bed, knees pressed together restlessly. He seemed to snap back to reality as she moved and tenderly pushed her knees apart to give him access to the fastening on her jeans. His hands shook with the occasional tremor as he undid the button and zip, and he glanced at her as if waiting for her to change her mind. Instead, she sent him as sultry look as she could manage while nervous and lifted her hips so he could wiggle them off and down her legs. As he glanced down at her, wearing only her underwear, Marinette felt incredibly exposed again. She tensed a little as he hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties but she pushed past her jitters to lift her hips again before he noticed. She knew he wouldn't want to push ahead anymore if she seemed to be scared. She might know she wasn't but her nerves could lead to some very misleading body language.

He traced her with his gaze and she was suddenly irrationally worried about what he thought of her. She'd never worried about how she looked below before. She'd never had to, but now she found herself wondering if she should have _groomed_ or something.

For a moment Chat just stared at the juncture between her legs before he shifted over to the side quickly so he was no longer between them. Instead, her silly Kitty lay down on her right, just as she had done for him and hooked his legs around one of her own, pulling it towards him to open her up more. He watched her face as he slid his hand up the inside of her thigh, rubbing small circles there with his fingers as he made progress. It was this that made Marinette uncomfortably aware of how much she didn't like her reaction being examined. She began to feel flustered and put on the spot, worried that however she reacted to his touches, he might judge her. She took a deep breath, knowing it was irrational, but she couldn't help the disconcerting feeling in her stomach mixing with and tainting her anticipation.

She pulled Chat into a kiss to avoid his gaze, gasping into his open mouth as his hand moved inwards and he hesitantly stroked his fingers through her folds. His kisses became stilted and he pulled away from her face instead turning to watch what he was doing. Marinette was again reminded of how difficult she had found it to kiss while concentrating on touching him and felt grateful for his distraction since he was no longer staring at her.

She closed her eyes and buried her head into his bare shoulder as he moved his fingers, exploring her and giving a pleased shudder when his finger brushed her clit. He tried to recreate the sensation in reply to her reaction but only created frustration for her as his thumb moved in a different way than what she could feel she needed. Following his lead from earlier, she moved her hand to place it atop his and he stilled his movements to turn and look at her.

“Like this,” she told him, moving her hand above his so their thumbs rubbed little circles against her. She let her head fall back and her eyes fluttered closed again as he moved the way she had shown him, experimenting with the speed and pressure he used.

“Mmmm, Chat,” she murmured as her hand moved away from his and reached out blindly for his head, finally nestling in his hair behind his cat ear. Her body arched away from the bed slightly at a particularly enjoyable swipe of his thumb and she whined as it was removed soon after to run through her folds again, a finger circling teasingly at her entrance.

She heard him take a deep breath next to her ear and although she couldn't ignore the nervous tremor it held, she was suddenly unable to think of anything but the finger he had sunken into her. She cried out, bringing her other hand to her mouth to smother the sound quickly, her lower body clenching around him. He worked his finger in and out of her a few times before a second accompanied the first and Marinette used the hand in his hair to pull him down into a fiery kiss. His lips remained stunned and moved too slowly for her liking but his hand didn't lose his rhythm so she refused to complain. She was sure that was his tail she could feel wrapping around her thigh furthest from him, pressing it down to open her legs wider and she absent-minded patted at it with her hand as her mind began to blur. She felt his fingers curl up inside her and as he moved them they slicked across a spot inside her which electrified her nerve endings.

Marinette began to lose awareness of exactly what was happening, instead revelling in the sensations he was creating with his hand. She unconsciously lifted her hips from the bed and thrust against his fingers as she began to build into a desperate frenzy, needing release.

Unexpectedly, the angle of his fingers changed ever so slightly and then his thumb was swiping across her clit again and Marinette could feel every inch of her body tense and quiver. She clamped her legs closed around his hand and curled her body towards him as she let out a quiet cry followed by a long shuddering breath.

He continued to move his fingers in and out of her as best he could with her legs closed tight around him until her shuddering subsided and she relaxed her death-grip her thighs had on him.

“Wow,” she heard Chat say and she slowly opened her eyes to see him grabbing a tissue to wipe his hand.

“Isn't that supposed to be my line?” she asked lazily, reaching up and pulling her last dishevelled pigtail from it's elastic.

“Maybe, but that was pretty hot to watch,” he said glancing down the expanse of her body, reminding Marinette just how exposed she was right now.

She reached behind her large cat pillow to fish out her pyjamas from last night and quickly slipped into the shorts and tank top.

“I don't know,” she said, “I'm not sure I like it when you watch me. I feel like you're judging me or something.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” he laughed, flushing as he pulled the sleeves of his costume on and zipped it up so he was once again fully dressed, “I just want to see what you liked. Was...was it good?

He looked so vulnerable that Marinette couldn't even bring herself to tease him with sarcasm. Instead, she leant in and kissed him sweetly. “It was _very_ good,” she told him with a smile. He smiled back before he tilted head curiously. His ears drooped a little and his smile turned sheepish.

“Um, I thought girls were loud when they, um...” he said, scratching at the back of his neck again.

“Not me,” she said, rolling her eyes, “I think you've been watching too much porn.”

He chuckled at her comment before suddenly yawning exaggeratedly, slapping a hand over his mouth to cover it.

“Are you tired Pretty Kitty?” she asked him, becoming aware of her own exhaustion after their exploits. He nodded in response.

“Been tired since I, you know,” he said blushing a little, “But it didn't seem fair to just doze off without taking care of you first.”

“Stay over?” she asked, “I want to cuddle.”

“Sure,” he said, smirking, “But I have to leave early so I can get home before anyone notices I'm gone. That means no funny business.”

“I wouldn't dream of it,” she lied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 23: SIN II
> 
> My face could warm a small country for a month. I haven't written smut before so I hope it wasn't too terrible. I'm trying to keep them in character of two teenagers who've never done anything like this before and so get things a bit awkwardly and are still learning how things work beyond the stuff they might have learned from school and the internet etc.
> 
> Also I'm not tagging this as underage because they are 15, which is the legal age of consent in France.


	24. Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just how much of a cat is Chat?

He really loved just laying here like this. Sometimes it was on her chaise, sometimes on her lounger. Usually it was her bed though. Her nice comfy elevated bed which appealed to the cat in him. Ultimately it didn't matter where they were. He just loved how warm and comfortable he felt when they were cuddled up together. It also didn't matter to him why they decided to cuddle; if they were snuggly because they had felt (extremely) satisfied after making out or fooling around (like now) or if she was just exhausted from a heavy load of homework and needed his comforting embrace.

It didn't matter because she felt like home to him. He felt safe, and warm and wanted when she was wrapped around him like this. When she was cradled against his chest, one of her petite legs tucked between his much larger ones and her head tucked tightly under his chin. When she dozed her breath puffed out against him, flooding him with heat and causing him to shiver from the sensation all at the same time.

He leaned his head down a little and buried his nose in her loose hair. (He'd have to apologise to her when she was a bit more awake. He hadn't meant to snap her hair ties when he'd tried to remove them earlier, it had honestly been an accident). Taking a deep breath, he sighed through his nose, disturbing a few strands in the process. This was something he was especially fond of lately. Apparently living in a bakery and being such an avid lover of cookies (although he never seemed to see her eat many of them, plates of the stuff disappeared around her quickly) had given Marinette her own special fragrance. He wasn't sure if she actually smelled of cookies as strongly as she seemed to for him, or if it was part of his Miraculous abilities simply enhancing his sense of smell. Regardless, Marinette wasn't the only one who loved sweet things and _Dieu_ he couldn't get enough of her scent.

“What are yo-” she let out a cute yawn and lifted a hand from his waist to cover it, “-doing?”

“Nothing,” he fibbed, pushing his nose further into her dark locks and inhaling deeply.

“...Are you _smelling_ me?”

Chat smirked. She had stiffened slightly but she wasn't pulling away so he was sure she was just confused as opposed to bothered by his behaviour.

“You smell really nice.”

She snorted at him. “I suppose after earlier I smell like you or something? Have you been scenting me Kitty?”

It was his turn to laugh at her accusation. He may be a lot like a cat in many ways but he had never tried to scent anything before. He wondered if he even could. He wondered if he should find out.

“Nope,” he told her, “If I was going to scent you, I'd do this.” He lifted his face away from her hair and instead began to run his cheek across hers, pressing into her gently as he did. She burst into adorable giggles and playfully tried to shove him off, but he gripped her waist tight, his legs clamping down on the one they held captive as he continued his onslaught. He pushed his cheek against her neck and shoulder before moving back up to her face and rubbing against every piece of skin he could reach. Her hair was the last to be scented as he rubbed his face against it so aggressively, it became unrecognisably messy.

“Hey!” she said through giggles and he finally relaxed his hold on her, although he was pleased to note she didn't move away from him. He grinned down at her widely.

Marinette reached up and slowly pushed handfuls of dishevelled hair out of her face to smile up at him.

“So, do I smell like you now or...”

He leaned into the spot on her neck where he had run his face against her mere minutes before and inhaled again. She still smelled of cookies and sweet things in general but now there was an added flavour to the scent. It didn't smell of anything in particular that he could pick out, like cologne or Camembert or whatever, but it was somehow still distinctly _him_. That pleased him greatly. He lifted his face from her to press the tip of their noses together and grinned.

“Yeah,” he said, “but you still smell like you too. You smell like _us_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 15: Something Sweet
> 
> I put two different interpretations of the prompt in! She smells sweet and it was a sweet moment between them! 
> 
> Also, if people were willing to go back and leave comments on the last chapter, I'd appreciate it because I worked really hard on it and it was totally out of my comfort zone so to get so little feedback was a bit disheartening. I don't want to come across as needy and I'm not the kind of person to get angry or nasty so there's none of that, I'm just...I dunno.
> 
> Okay so chapter 25 and 26 are already written but 27-31 need to be done from scratch yet and I go back to work tomorrow so I don't know how regularly I'll update again after that.


	25. I Didn't Want This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat is so tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who dropped this LadyNoir into my MariChat?

 

He was utterly burned-out and now it was hurting his dignity.

Ladybug snorted as he picked himself up from the edge of the rooftop where he'd rolled to after attempting to lean on the chimney above and missing by several centimetres. His eyesight had been obstructed by his tears of exhaustion just as he'd reached out for it and he hadn't noticed how far it had actually been from his hand when he started to shift his weight.

“Sit down for a moment,” Ladybug told him through her snickers, a hint of genuine concern in her voice, “you look like you need a nap. Everything okay?”

“Um, y-yeah,” he stammered, doing as she said. He really didn't want to give too much away. The teasing could get to unbearable levels if she was so inclined.

“Has someone been spending too much time with his girlfriend and not enough time sleeping?” she asked, a strangely knowing glint in her eye as she dropped down to the roof beside him.

His eyes widened. Crap. Since he'd discovered he could “scent” Marinette he'd spent most nights either staying over and fooling around until they started to drift off from sheer exhaustion, or laying awake in his own bed thinking about her and wishing she hadn't pushed him out so she could get a decent sleep for once. He hadn't even found time to bring up his recent decision to tell Marinette who he was with Ladybug yet.

“Your Instagram hasn't been updated in over a week,” she told him, studying her knees as she pulled them up against her chest, “You usually have lots of patrol scenery or those silly set up pictures of date locations and stuff. If you haven't had time...I kinda assumed...”

He gave a small smile as he resigned himself to his fate of death by ridicule.

“Yeah, we've been, um...busy.”

He could see a blush spreading across her face as she thought about the implications of what 'busy' might mean. In what he could only assume was an attempt to avoid making awkward eye contact after the connotations of his words had sunk in, she leant her head against his shoulder. He thought he heard an embarrassed groan.

He'd given up on the tiny, underlying hope that she was jealous a while ago now. Ladybug absolutely loved hearing about his dates with Marinette and had helped him to perfect the kind of photos of said dates he should upload, to avoid giving away who his mystery girlfriend was to the public. Since he had Marinette now he had no intention of acting on any jealousy that might have occurred anyway. Unless it would have given him fodder to taunt her with, it wasn't important to him. She was such a great friend. A very warm friend. Warm was nice.

_Dieu,_ he was tired. Maybe Ladybug wouldn't mind if he just took a short cat-nap right here while he was warm? He turned to mention it and felt his head nodding at the mere thought of sleep.

His head hit the top of hers softly as he dropped off and the shock of the gentle contact instantly woke him, eyes wide and breaths coming out uneven and flustered.

“Okay you definitely need to go home for some sleep,” she said, standing suddenly and looking for a place to anchor her yo-yo, “I'm kinda tired too so let's just call it a night and pick up an extra patrol next week instead.”

She gave him a wave as she swung away and was gone before his mind had finished processing what had just dawned on him.

Ladybug smelled like cookies.

* * *

 

To say Marinette looked exasperated when he appeared at her skylight would have been an understatement.

“I thought you had a patrol tonight, Kitty,” she said accusingly as he dropped to his knees on the bed beside her, “and I told you yesterday to go home after and get some sleep. You'll fall off a roof all because you're so insatiable.”

He stared at her silently. If what he thought was true, it was both the most wonderful and awful thing ever. Wonderful for obvious reasons. Awful because it meant she hadn't trusted him.

“Chat?” she asked. He realised he hadn't moved or said a word since coming inside and she seemed to have gone rigid as she contemplated what was wrong.

Slowly he crawled across the duvet towards her and she appeared to relax somewhat at what appeared to be his usual horny behaviour.

“No, listen you silly cat! I told you to go home! We both need to get an early-” she cut off abruptly as he lightly pulled her face closer. With his hands on her cheeks and far gentler than he'd been in weeks, he fastened his nose to her scalp. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths through his nose for a few minutes as he mentally compared until Marinette started to struggle against his hold. He broke away immediately and resumed staring at her in disbelief.

“What is up with you?” she demanded, beyond confused and a little panicked sounding.

“Why does Ladybug smell just like you?”

…

It became Marinette's turn to give him a silent stare, a look of mild fear crossing her face steadily before morphing into an expression of complete terror.

“Oh Chat...” she sobbed.

“Why didn't you just tell me?” he asked, gritting his teeth and looking at her covers below him instead of at any part of her. It hurt. It hurt so much that she hadn't been able to share the other side of herself with him. He might have known both sides of her but when he'd gotten so close to Marinette...

He liked to imagine that if things had happened in reverse, if Ladybug had fallen for Adrien, that he'd have told her who he was. His relationship with her had trumped their identity rules, surely?

“I wanted to tell you,” she started, the tears in her eyes starting to drip slowly down her face, “At first I just didn't want to admit I liked you and I thought if I kept me and Ladybug separate, it'd stop it from happening.

“But then we started dating and I couldn't work out how to tell you and...the longer I kept it a secret the more difficult it became to tell you 'cause...I didn't want this. This kind of reaction, I mean. I don't want you to hate me.”

She knelt forward on the bed in front of him and he could feel himself wavering. He wanted to reach out and hug her.

“I really don't want to lose you Kitty,” she said, her hand resting on his cheek and softly pressing, encouraging him to look at her, “I think...I think I'm in-”

He cut her off with a desperate kiss. It was short but he tried to convey everything he felt into it. He broke off and pressed his forehead to hers before responding.

“I don't want to lose you either,” he said, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, “And...I think I am too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 19: Identity Reveal
> 
> So...probably not the reveal people were expecting to come first after Adrien's decision. Sorry for that brief angst but I couldn't keep it up. Not considering what's to come ;)


	26. Nicknames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat brings Princess/Lady a present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place the very next visit after Chat and Marinette's implied heart-to-heart over her identity.

 

He was meticulous at keeping his hands hidden behind his back as he knocked on her skylight window loud enough for her to hear without attracting further attention. The familiar voice of his Princess shouted from inside to let himself in so he dropped down onto her mattress, all the while hiding his prize from view.

“Hey Bugaboo,” he said fondly, looking down at her desk from over the edge of her loft. She was bent over her sketchbook again and he was frustrated that he might have to remind her to sit up straight before the night was out, otherwise risk her hurting her back again.

At the sound of his soft endearment she glanced up at him, an adorable irritated pout on her face as she shushed him.

“Mama and Papa are right downstairs, Kitty. Watch the nicknames,” she told him as he removed himself from his perch on her bed and made his way down her ladder, back strategically positioned to face away from her and keep the contents in his hand obscured from sight.

He didn't realise until it was too late, but she noticed his less than subtle behaviour and got up from her chair, moving towards him in mock ignorance. As she approached, glancing at something on her wall, which he immediately turned to look for, he belatedly realised that she was trying to discreetly reach around him. Before he could pull away she had grabbed his wrist, attempting to tug it out from behind his back.

“Marinette!” he cried, alarmed in case she wrecked his gift in her impatient attempts to see what it was, “Wait! Look, I'll show you, just...don't ruin them.”

His voice ended in a slight whine and she smirked but it didn't last. The look on her face when he pulled out the handmade bouquet of tiny orange and yellow flowers and presented them to her was immediately worth all the hassle she's created for him just a moment ago.

“Oh Chat,” she breathed, voice catching, “They're _beautiful_. And they smell -” she inhaled deeply from the bunch “-they, um...they smell...uh, what are they?”

She sounded hesitant and was staring at the flowers confusedly, like they were not exactly what she had expected of them.

“Err, french marigolds,” he told her, “I heard they're excellent flowers for ladybugs and they looked so nice when I found a picture that I tracked some down for you.”

Her brow was furrowed harshly and she was staring into the centre of the bunch of fiery blooms as if she appeared to be considering something.

“H-How are they good for ladybugs?” she asked.

“Um, they have nectar I think? It's like a treat for them.”

She still hadn't looked up since smelling the flowers. It was worrying him now. She was just staring at them and looking borderline freaked out. He was finding it kind of distressing and he could feel a comfort purr building in his chest. He pushed it down before it reached his throat, determined not to become a distraction for her to latch onto as he knew she'd use it as an excuse to avoid explaining whatever was going on right now.

“Chat,” she started, finally looking up at him, awkward discomfort evident in her expression, “I...I kind of want to eat them.”

He blinked stupidly at her, unable to formulate words.

“I mean,” she tried to clarify, “they smell good, but not flower good. They smell like, cookies...or honey or something. Really sweet and _delicious_.”

He wasn't sure how to react to that. It was kind of weird but then again as superheroes their lives were incredibly weird every day. She was effected by certain flowers like real ladybugs were. But then he could scent things and purr like a cat. He was honestly surprised she'd never brought up any Miraculous susceptibilities she had before, now that he thought about it.

He started laughing before he could stop himself. It was impossible to control and he keeled over with mirth, a full bellied laugh erupting from him that had Marinette staring at him with a slightly hurt look on her face.

“N-No,” he gasped suddenly, desperately trying to cut off his laughter and failing, “it's just-” more laughter “-here we are, me insisting on being petted and purring about it and you hungry for flowers! What a pair we are!”

He continued to laugh for a bit longer before his guffaws died down to chuckles. She giggled lightly and he reached out to pull her close to him. He pushed his nose into her hair as he loved to do whenever they were close together and breathed in their mixed essence which he had christened as the 'MariChat scent' in his head back when he'd first discovered it.

There was a slight movement against his chest followed by an almost retch-like sound all of a sudden. He pulled back and glanced down at his girlfriend who was sticking out her tongue and looking utterly disgusted. She glimpsed up at his questioning stare and her cheeks became dusted with her vintage shade of pink that he knew so well.

“Um, they don't taste anything like they smell.”

He let out a snicker at her confession and held his hands up to defend himself when she took offence and swatted at him. He was overcome with so much affection for her in that moment.

“Oh, Bugi-”

“NICKNAMES!” she shouted at him, mortified.

“-Nette,” he finished, deciding that at he could at least shorten it in the future so no one would realise what it stood for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 16: Flowers
> 
> Funnily enough while researching for this I learned that french marigolds are not native to France or any part of Europe but are native to America! And it’s the regular marigolds that are native to France! The people who name this stuff must have been on the bevvy lol


	27. Growing Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette entrusts Chat with something no one else can do for her

 

“C'mon Chat, I can't trust anyone else with this.”

He glanced at her with the worry he felt evident in his expression. Her big puppy-dog eyes gaped back, making his insides melt a little more with every second that passed.

“'Nette-” he rasped but she cut him off sharply with a finger pressed to his lips.

“They are going to ask me to take all of my jewellery out and if I don't they'll refuse to do the removal,” she said, “I need this done today Chat. I can't deal with this pain anymore.”

He hated everything about this. But his Lady, his Princess was hurting and she needed him to help her whilst she had her wisdom teeth removed. They had started to push through very early (something which apparently ran in Marinette's family on her mother's side) and it was causing her a lot of pain as they pushed against other teeth. Sabine had realised early on in the week why Marinette was hurting and scheduled an appointment for her for as soon as possible, leaving them all to listen to her complain that extra teeth were nothing but an utter pain for three whole days. It had killed him that he couldn't do anything to help her.

When she had finally seen her dentist, he had said the angle they were coming in at was extremely severe and suggested removing them as soon as possible. He had scheduled her in for the very next day and so she had spent most of last night and now the better part of a Saturday afternoon trying to convince him to look after her Miraculous and Tikki, who had advised them that she wouldn't become dormant again unless Marinette actually rejected her mantle as Ladybug. And she had promised not to pass on anything about Chat's alter ego, should he need to de-transform before she got back to her chosen (he had to make an appearance in front of Nathalie for five minutes or so soon, so he knew it was unavoidable that the little kwami was going to learn who he was).

“Marinette!” her mother called from downstairs, “We need to get going now. Say goodbye please.”

“Coming Mama!” she shouted back before turning to her boyfriend with a pleading look, “These stupid extra teeth are nothing but a pain, Chat. I need them gone. I can't ask anyone else to do this, they won't understand how important it is.

_How could he let her down?_

* * *

He couldn't do this. Not her.

He hadn't wanted to believe it was her, but...this girl had the same pigtails as her, although granted hers were purple. She was wearing the most amazing gown in pinks with white polka dots on it, which were his girlfriends signature colours when she was herself. But the moment he'd truly let himself think that maybe, just maybe, his Lady was the girl on his screen was when he'd heard her monologue about how unnecessary extra things had caused her pain and how she wanted to inflict the same onto others. The exact way she'd complained about her teeth for the past few days.

He'd discussed the possibility with Tikki and Plagg while he watched the report on his TV and they'd nearly given him a heart attack when they revealed that he and Marinette were only immune to akumatisation while they were wearing their Miraculous. Without them, they could become victims to the butterflies themselves, instead of just the Akumas attacks. Which meant that because he had her earrings, that could very well be Marinette on the news terrorising people. Tikki had tried to insist it was unlikely, that Marinette was too optimistic to let her _wisdom teeth_ of all things upset her, but all Adrien could think of was how infuriated she would have been if she'd gone through all of this just for her appointment to be cancelled for some stupid reason. He knew her righteous fury first-hand and it would be perfect for Hawkmoth to take advantage of.

So here he was, standing atop a fire escape in an alley in the fifth arrondissement with Tikki on his shoulder whispering soothing things to try to get him to calm down enough to engage in a fight he really didn't want to even have to think about.

He watched as...as...the _Akuma_ (he refused to call it Marinette) created copies of things as she drifted past; a dog who began to fight with it's original, an expensive bill which the cafe customer who had earned the first one looked at with utter horror, a _**baby**_ causing it's already stressed looking mother to start crying along with both children.

“I can't do this,” he sobbed.

“Yes, you can,” Tikki was saying while patting his cheek softly, “You just have to remember she's a victim just like everyone else, Chat. She doesn't know what she's doing.”

He sniffled and Tikki floated in front of him to block his view of the chaos in the street next to the alley.

“Well, at least it's a good thing she doesn't know who you are. She might have told Hawkmoth.”

“What!?” he said in shock as her words sunk in deeper and dragged his focus from the Akuma on the street.

“Um,” she stuttered, suddenly unsure, “I guess if she'd known you were Adrien, she could've gone after you directly before you even had time to transform. And Hawkmoth could be sending Akumas after you every day.”

“I don't care about that!” he snapped, suddenly furious with the little red kwami floating in his view, “I want her to know who I am, regardless. I'm just...leading up to it.”

“But...but it's dangerous,” Tikki started, her antennae dropping down at his sharp tone, “you only found out who she was by accident so unless-”

“No offence, Tikki,” he spat, “but shut up.”

The little kwami gasped, dropping away to the railing beside him in hurt and shock. He returned his attention to the _thing_ that looked like his Princess and took a deep breath. He decided that at least his anger at Tikki had been good for something. It had distracted him enough that he was now considering how to go about attacking.

“Chat Noir!” a voice shouted from the street directly below him and he peered down trying to make out who it was from this height. Was that-?

“Marinette!” he yelled, using his baton to descend down to the ground rapidly and pulling her into a hug.

“I shought you'd be at my pwash, wooking fo' me to give me my earringsh back,” she said, slapping him gently on the chest in a slightly off balance gesture, “It wash hard to shneak out wiffout being able to transhform, you know.”

“But, you're not...it's not...you're not the Akuma!” he managed to ask in his garbled confusion.

“Nnnooo...” she said, looking equally confused and, concerningly, swaying a little, “did you...shink she wash me?”

“Marinette!” Tikki cried, suddenly pouncing on her face in a delighted hug, “We thought you'd been akumatised! She looks so much like you!”

“She doesh?” she asked, eyeing both of them one at a time.

“She does,” he confirmed, “I mean, her hair's purple and her eyes are pink, but otherwise...And she is complaining about extras causing pain? Like you did with your teeth?”

“Ah,” she said, “It went shuper eashy. My moush shtill feewsh weird and I have shtuff in my moush for the bweeding but I'm fiiiiine.”

“You're still high,” he said feeling equal parts horrified and amused.

“Not high!” she said in annoyance, “My earringsh, gimme!”

“Um, are you sure you can fight like this?”

“Chat Noir! You give me my earringsh shish shecond!”

Reluctantly he unzipped his pocket and fished them out, Marinette grabbing them from him as soon as she had them in view. She clumsily prodded at her left ear a few times, till she found her piercing but otherwise he was quite impressed with how easily she put them in considering her state.

“Tikki! Shpotsh on!” she shouted and before he knew it, he was racing into battle after a very reckless Ladybug, terrified of what how they were going to handle this fight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 21: Akumatised Marinette
> 
> Yes, I know I cheated because it wasn't really her, but it explored a little of how well (or not) Chat would handle his Lady being his enemy and also how he reacts to being told it's a good thing she doesn't know who he is. *waggles eyebrows*  
> Also I headcanon that the kids cannot be akumatised whilst wearing their Miraculous jewellery. The Akumas can hit them with an attack and exert control on them but they can't be possessed by an Akuma themselves.
> 
> Have you any idea how hard it is to write someone with a swollen mouths dialogue!? And still make it understandable!? I had to put my fingers in my mouth and read her lines to hear how they sounded.
> 
> So the next chapter is still unwritten but it takes place about half an hour after this one.


	28. No Filter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even with an Akuma running around the streets of Paris, Chat still finds time to kink-shame Marinette

“I think she'd be better off here till she sobers up.”

Marinette frowned, eyes still closed, as she did her best to focus on the voice coming from her left.

“That would be best. I can transform her when you catch the Akuma and she can cleanse it for you, but it's probably best if she doesn't fight like this,” a much higher pitched voice said from somewhere above her head.

As she tried to concentrate on exactly where that voice was coming from she could feel a slight sensation like a bug floating above her nose and she found in her half conscious state that she didn't like it at all. She swatted her hand to dislodge it from near her face and the high pitched voice squeaked suddenly.

“She's waking up!” someone said to her right.

Marinette opened her eyes, squinting in the dim light she wasn't yet accustomed to. From what she could tell she was lying out on her bed, early evening light shining through her skylight and silhouetting the two figures hovering above her. Slowly they came into focus enough for her to identify them. At which point she blinked excessively in confusion. Because they were both Chat and that wasn't possible.

“What?” she mumbled.

“Are you okay?” the boy on her left asked in concern.

“What do you remember?” the one on the right added.

“Um,” she started, sitting up and looking from one to the other as she cast her mind back, “We were fighting an Akuma that looks a lot like me, Replicator, right?”

Both boys sighed in unison, seemingly relieved that she remembered.

“You swung into a building,” the left Chat said, turning so he was sitting crossed legged next to her instead of kneeling, “Your pain medication has you pretty messed up.”

“I-he-we tried to distract her to give you enough time to get up again...but you didn't. I-we weren't paying attention and got hit.”

“So there's two of us,” the other Chat added, also relaxing back instead of kneeling stiffly, “And we've already gotten over our fight about who's the real Chat and who's a copy so...”

“I told them they're both the real Chat,” Tikki added, giggling, “they weren't impressed.”

They both glared at the little red kwami as Marinette watched.

“So,” the heroine started slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the latest events, “I hit my head...and woke up with two boyfriends?”

The right-side Chat snickered. “Pretty much.”

“Did I die and go to heaven?” she blabbed out before slapping a hand up to her mouth to silence herself in horror.

“What?” both boys said in unified shock.

“Oh,” Marinette said, glancing down at the hand she had flung across her face as she pulled it away, realising something, “My mouth doesn't hurt.”

“You healed up when you transformed,” Tikki said, looking awkwardly at the shocked boys for a moment, “It's one of your perks. Unfortunately, the drugs will stay in your system a bit longer. I can't speed up the rest of your metabolism so you're still going to be out of it for a while.”

“Awww,” she whined, glancing at the boys, “that'll put them off wanting to make out with me.” Again she clapped her hand over her mouth as if it wasn't already too late to take back the words.

Both of the Chats glanced at each other with wide, stunned eyes before turning back to look at her uncomfortably. “Tikki,” said left-Chat, “Can you give us a minute?”

“No! Tikki!” Marinette shouted, but it was too late. Before she could even complete the first syllable Tikki had already flown away, effectively abandoning her. It seemed her reaction time was seriously diminished by the medication in her bloodstream.

“Um Princess?” one of the boys said, but Marinette found it hard to tell which one considering her chin was currently lodged in her chest in shame, “Is there something you want to tell us?” She groaned in humiliation.

“It's not my fault if having two gorgeous boys in my bedroom makes me think things,” she mumbled, finally lifting her eyes to catch their reactions.

The Chat on her right laughed nervously for a moment before trailing off awkwardly at the look on her face, his ears flattening backwards on his head. “Oh  _mon Dieu_ , you're serious, aren't you? You...want to make out  _with both of us?_ ”

“Or watch,” she added with a shrug and a grin before it suddenly melted off of her face and a scorching blush replaced it as she became mortifyingly aware of what she had just said.

“What!?” right-Chat said, his head flying back in shock.

“Ewww,” left-Chat said, throwing a disgusted look at his other self.

“Oh  _mon Dieu_ , I can't believe I said that!”

“Yeah, we're not into that-”

“And we have an Akuma to go fight, while you clearly need a cold shower-”

“ _I'm so sorry!_ ”

“We'll bring you the Akuma when we catch it-”

“Hopefully, you'll be more sober by then-”

“And less likely to say the first thing that pops into your head.”

The Chat on her left uncrossed his legs and knelt forward to place a quick kiss to her temple, his face equally as red as hers was, before he leapt up to her skylight and onto her balcony.

The remaining Chat also knelt forward, his lips close to her ear as he whispered to her in a teasing tone, “We'll have to discuss your interesting thoughts on the matter when we get back.”

She tried to shove him in embarrassment but he pulled away laughing before dipping back down to leave a kiss on the top of her head, before leaping up to her balcony just as his other self had just done.

She didn't notice as they left to tackle the Akuma since her face appeared to be temporarily fused to the palms of her hands and her groaning blocked out any noise they might have made as they leapt to the nearest rooftop.

Tikki reappeared as she finally lifted her head and stared straight ahead, unable to look at the approaching kwami she knew had heard everything.

“I can't believe I said that,” she said to herself in disbelief. Tikki giggled and Marinette turned to regard her finally, frowning slightly. “Don't you start,” she grumbled.

“Don't worry Marinette. I'm sure if there had been two of you, Chat wouldn't have acted any differently than you did.”

That...was probably true. She felt herself beginning to relax a little as she considered trying to turn his teasing back on him when he-they returned with the Akuma.

“You know, you probably could have convinced them that there were other, more fun things for you to do than watch anyway,” she said and Marinette's jaw dropped.

“Besides,” Tikki continued with a smirk, “I have a feeling you're not going to be quite fit enough to transform when they get back. I guess I'll just have to hold the Akuma for an hour or two while you...recover.”

At the sight of Marinette's saucer-wide eyes and her already gaping jaw, Tikki burst into a fit of high pitched giggles before flying off.

“That'll teach him to speak to me like that,” Marinette heard her huff before she moved completely out of sight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 31: Copycat
> 
> My original idea for this prompt was for Chat to discover the Akuma wasn't Marinette in this chapter, not at the end of the last one, but when this idea occurred to me I just knew I had to do it.


	29. Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat finally brings up that topic he's been dying to discuss...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG the angst is strong in this one.
> 
> Also I added an additional line for Tikki at the end of the last chapter to make her motivations more clear.

****Chat lay sprawled out on the pink rug with poorly concealed worry on his face. As he watched the girl lay back on the chaise reading her magazine he wondered nervously how to broach the topic that had been playing on his mind for some time. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage deciding that he needed to at least mention it before they could deal with the possible consequences.

“Hey, Marinette?” he said quietly, breaking the silence.

She sat up abruptly and turned to regard him, suspicion evident in her expression. “What is it?” she asked in a flat and serious tone.

“What's what?” he asked, blinking rapidly, surprised by the sudden change in demeanour and if he was honest feeling slightly fearful.

“You called me Marinette,” she said, tilting her head up as if to make a point.

“Well, what else would I call you?” he said with a frown, sitting up to face her properly.

“Usually, 'Nette or Princess or one of your hundred other nicknames,” she said, “You only call me Marinette if you're- Well if it's serious.”

Oh. He hadn't realised she'd picked up on that. He'd barely realised he did that himself. Maybe she knew him better than he realised she did. Strangely the thought wasn't as comforting as he had hoped it would be. It meant she knew him but still didn't see Adrien enough to make a connection between his two selves.

“Right,” he said, rising from the floor to take a seat next to her on the chaise and rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, “It's just...you know I love you right?”

He watched her face light up and a soft pink glow grace her cheeks as she smiled and placed a tender kiss on his cheek.

“Oh, of course, I do Chat. And I love you too. Is that all?”

“Um...”

He knew she loved him. They had told each other so when he found out she was Ladybug, even if it had taken them a couple of hours to finally get the actual words out instead of just implying them or trailing off. But he still worried about whether she would feel differently when she found out that the boy she loved was also the boy who had broken her heart all those months ago. Would she love him knowing he'd kept something that big from her? He bit his lip.

“Marinette, I want to tell you who I am,” he said in a rush of exhaled air.

There. He'd done it. He'd finally raised the subject with her, something he hadn't done since before they'd started dating when he'd wanted to know who Ladybug was.

“What?” she whispered, eyes blown wide and leaning back in the chaise, away from him.

“I love you Marinette and I want to tell my friends about you. I want to bring you over to my house and take you on real dates and be completely honest with you about everything.” She was still staring but her mouth had turned down into an annoyed frown and he felt an internal sob form in his throat. This was not turning out how he wanted it to.

“That's...not a good idea, Chat,” she said, turning away from him and rising to pace the room, “Hawkmoth is still out there and-”

“And he's more likely to get hold of me than you. You know better than anyone my track record for being controlled, and I already know who you are.”

“Just yesterday you thought I'd been akumatised,” she said, whirling round to face him, hands on her hips and an angry frown furrowing her brow, “and when you get controlled you tend to be a one-track mind for my earrings, not blabbing about my identity.”

“Only because I've not been taken over since I found out who you are!” He rose from his seat and stalked towards her, pointing his finger as his temper rose, “If I'm a danger to you, isn't it safer for you to know where you can find me even out of the suit?” He was raising his voice now and he could see the anger rising in her eyes too. Just typical that she could turn a moment with such potential for bringing them closer together into a fight.

“Look, Tikki says it's not a good idea and-”

“What does she know about _**us!?**_ Why is what she wants more important to you than what I want!?”

“Why are you totally disregarding _me_? What if I'm the one who thinks it's not a good idea?”

He stopped and closed his mouth, aborting whatever it was he'd been about to say. A sudden realisation was hitting home and he wasn't sure he knew how to handle it.

“You really don't want to know, do you?” he asked her in a quiet, broken voice.

“Well...” she hesitated, “Not until we stop Hawkmoth.”

And just as quickly he was back to being furious. “That could be years! You'd really wait that long? Put us on hold because of him? Surely, you can't really love me if you don't even want to know my name!”

She gasped sharply, hand flying up to cover her mouth before she threw a venomous glare at him.

“How _dare_ you tell me how should feel or what I should want,” she said at a dangerously low volume.

“Fine!” he shouted, moving away from her to head for her ladder up to her bed and skylight.

“Chat?” he heard her say, worry beginning to creep into her tone, “Wait! I-”

“I'm going home,” he spat, “I'd say don't follow me but you don't even know where I live so...”

He didn't stick around to hear her response.

* * *

 

As soon as Chat landed in his bedroom his transformation dropped and Plagg, completely against his usual nature, didn't ask for cheese. Instead, the little black kwami flew up in front of his face, his ears flattened back in worry.

“You need to go back, kid,” he said softly.

“No!” Adrien told him, “I'm sick of everything always having to be done _her_ way. It's easy for her. She doesn't know she sees me every day. I'm going to go crazy being in class with her and not getting to be her boyfriend unless she thinks I'm someone else.”

“Kid,” Plagg said, his voice usually gentle and concerned, “calm down. Don't blow your top now.”

“No, I won't calm down! She makes me so angry!”

“Adrien-” the kwami tried.

“Shut up Plagg!”

Plagg's face immediately morphed from fretful to annoyed.

“Hey! I know you're upset but don't talk to me like that! It's bad enough you shouted at Tikki over this!”

“Leave me alone.”

“No! You shout at me, I'll shout at you! I'm much older than you and know a lot of things you don't! And right now I know you're being stupid and childish and-”

“I said,” Adrien shouted, grabbing at the ring on his finger, “ _leave me alone!_ ”

“Wait! Adrien don't-”

Adrien tugged the ring from his finger sharply and the cat God blinked out of existence, becoming dormant again as the piece of jewellery turned back into its Miraculous state, black with the green paw print.

“Finally, some quiet,” Adrien huffed, flinging the ring towards his bed, where it landed on the floor, sliding across the carpet until it was out of sight beneath the bed.

He was so angry and everything just felt...too much. He needed to vent, but there was no one that he could to talk to about it who wouldn't give him a lecture. He almost hated Marinette right now. _Almost_. But mostly he just hated that he still loved her.

It was childish but he really wanted to do something to hurt her feelings right now. To let her know the way he felt. Because he was hurting. It was a rejection of sorts, to realise she didn't want to know the boy behind the mask at all. He felt betrayed because he wanted to know absolutely everything about her. Wasn't that what you did in a relationship? It felt like a personal insult for her to only want to be with one part of him.

He decided that he was going to make her understand. He'd go back. If she wasn't home he'd track her down and...

A voice in his head interrupted his frantic thoughts.

“I am Hawkmoth...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 29: The Argument  
> Remember when I alluded that shit would hit the fan? We're on...


	30. Lynx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upset after their argument, Marinette races to her balcony when she hears her boyfriend come back. But he's not quite himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached the penultimate chapter. Strap on your seat-belt, it’s about to get bumpy.

Marinette lay on her side staring at her pink walls, body and mind numb. She had spent the last half an hour crying and she just…couldn’t anymore. She had never been much of a crier, even when it was expected of her. Her  _maman_  had always said it was because she was a “tough cookie” but Marinette knew it was more to do with feeling so weak she couldn’t possibly let anyone else know how she was faring. She couldn’t let anyone see how easy it would be to break her.

She really wanted someone to comfort her right now, but a part of her didn’t feel like she deserved it.  She couldn’t adequately explain to her parents why she was upset without revealing that she was Ladybug. And she had managed to scare Tikki off. The little kwami had tried to ‘congratulate’ Marinette on staying firm with Chat despite his 'immature attitude’ and she had felt herself snap, cursing and shouting at Tikki until she had flown away in shock.

After all, she knew Chat was right. They should be sharing identities at this point. They were together and as they’d realised when he’d discovered her secret, they loved each other. He already knew who she was so surely the biggest of Marinette’s worries had already been realised. And as he’d pointed out, it would put her at a much better advantage if he were ever controlled again if she knew where to find him when he was out of costume.

Ultimately, she was just scared. Knowing who Chat was in his everyday life was such a big step, and it had huge potential to bring them closer, but there was also just as much potential for things to go horribly wrong.

She liked to think she wasn’t a shallow person but recently she couldn’t stop imagining scenarios in which she discovered Chat’s identity and then there was  _something_ , something she couldn’t quite place about his civilian self that dimmed her attraction or distorted her deeper feelings for him. She worried that not only would she hurt the boy she loved but that she would find that she wasn’t the kind of person she thought she was and then would hate herself for it.

Tikki had continued to insist, even after Marinette’s alter-ego was discovered, that Chat’s identity should remain a secret – for his own protection, she claimed. For a while now the teenage girl had found she no longer agreed with the little god and these days she was only using Tikki’s persistence as an excuse to postpone for her own sake.

She had wanted to apologise almost immediately. But she had tried calling his baton and it wouldn’t even ring meaning he wasn’t transformed right now. Strangely though, there wasn’t the usual option to leave a message and she wondered if he had somehow disabled it in his anger at her.

He must hate her right now. All he’d ever wanted to do was to know who she was and tell her who he was. And now it was so much more important to him because he had dreams of dating her as himself as well as his alter-ego. Now in her attempts to avoid hurting him, she had torn out his heart anyway. No wonder he hated her, she hated herself. She really needed an outside perspective on this. Someone to tell her what to do next.

She should probably try to talk to Tikki and apologise for her earlier outburst. Maybe she could explain to her how she had been feeling over this whole thing. And if she was lucky (she was supposed to be, wasn’t she?) the kwami would understand and perhaps change her stance on his identity. Or at the very least she could hope Tikki would console and reassure her about what kind of person she was.

There was a thump above her head and she sat up suddenly, hopeful that a blonde head would appear at the skylight at any moment. When one didn’t emerge her face crumpled in distress for a moment until she heard the unmistakable sounds of boots pacing across her balcony.

She was on her feet instantly, jumping for the handle on her wall she used to lever herself to the skylight and scrambling up through the window, landing in a sprawled heap on the concrete. She froze there as she caught sight of the familiar and yet strange boy standing by her railing.  

Chat was no longer Chat, and yet…he was. The outline and cut of his suit was unmistakable and it was still his masked face under the mop of blonde hair, twisted in anger and distrust and refusing to look directly at her.

But his suit was no longer black. Instead it was a sort-of tan colour, still leather-like and now a close match to his hair colour but not quite the same. The piping on his suit seemed softer now and appeared to be fuzzy, with tufts of hair forming and sprouting at his shoulders and elbows. It gave the impression of blonde fur and was further speckled with soft black patches like a leopard or some other big cat she couldn’t place. Further, she noted that the ears atop his head were much taller and had large black tufts erupting from the points.

The exact differences in him were so basic but the overall effect had completely changed her sweet kitty into something predatory and terrifying.

She quickly rolled over and sprung to her feet to watch him, panic beginning to claw its way up her chest and gripping at her throat. Had he been so upset he had taken off his ring, his only defence, just so she couldn’t call him?

“Chat?” she asked tentatively, “Chat Noir? It’s me, it’s M-”

“I’m not Chat,” he interrupted, still refusing to look at her properly but glancing briefly in her direction from the corner of his eye, “I’m Lynx now.”

“Oh Kitty,” she sobbed, noticing that the ring on his right hand was missing, “tell me you didn’t.” A single leftover tear from earlier escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, hitting the concrete below her.

“Don’t 'Kitty’ me!” he thundered suddenly, eyes closing tightly in anger, making her jump in place and wish desperately Tikki hadn’t disappeared so she could transform and help her partner, “I am not some pet!”

“W-Why don’t we go inside?” she suggested, stuttering more from her attempts to hold back a wail as opposed to any real fear. Ultimately he was still Chat and she just couldn’t find it in her to believe her sweet boy could ever hurt her, “ _Maman_ and  _Papa_  haven’t seen you in a few days and-”

“Stop!” he shouted, moving away from the railing and towards her with long, lithe and calculated strides.

_Like a  wild cat,_ she thought.

“I won’t be dragged into some pack where you try to make me think I’m a part of things. You don’t get to chose bits and pieces of me that suit you; you don’t get the cat without the claws. That’s why I’m a solitary creature now,” he said, an enraged fire burning in his now hazel eyes, which still blatantly refused to look at her directly.

Marinette pushed past the niggling worry at the back of her head warning her to be careful and placed a hand against his tan chest, feeling his warmth and the steady heartbeat which proved he was still alive, still human. As she looked up at him his own eyes looked off to one side, keeping her in his peripheral vision but still deliberately avoiding her gaze. Despite this she could still see in his expression that his anger, his fury, was all just a smokescreen for the severe anguish that swam in his eyes. He was painfully transparent right now.

She had hurt him so much worse than she had ever thought possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 25: Akumatised Chat Noir
> 
> In case you’re wondering this is what a Lynx looks like:
> 
> https://i.imgur.com/PNFYel4.jpg
> 
> They can be blonde or brown or grey but I went with a blonde one because 
> 
> 1\. His hair and
> 
> 2\. It’s the closest I could get to Chat Blanc without actually making him Chat Blanc


	31. Share The Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette helps Chat back to who he really is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is. It’s the FINAL CHAPTER

Oh Kitty,” Marinette said as she continued to stare at him as he avoided her gaze, “What have I done to you? I was so busy being worried about how I felt, that I forgot about you. I’m so sorry Chat.”

“I’m Lynx,” he said briefly, but his eyes flickered with uncertainty and Marinette took it as a good sign that she was getting through to him.

“Ch-Lynx, I was scared. I was worried that maybe I wouldn’t like you the same once I knew who you were. I didn’t want to hurt you but now it’s so much worse and I’ve been so stupid. I don’t know why I thought I wouldn’t like you. You’re still you. And I  _love_  you.”

All of a sudden, a purple butterfly outlined Chat’s face and he seemed to be looking through her balcony floor instead of at it while he concentrated on a voice only he could hear. Marinette gasped as his furrowed brow creased further and his frown deepened. He shook his head in what looked like annoyance at something the voice had said.

“No,” he said quietly, presumably to Hawkmoth, “She does. That’s why you’re not allowed to look at My Lady.”

He went silent again and turned to look over her shoulder to avoid her face as he continued his internal conversation. His eyes suddenly screwed shut and he grabbed her around the waist drawing her against him so that her chin rested on his shoulder. Marinette gasped again at the unexpected contact, one hand still pressed against his chest and the other wrapping around his back to return the embrace.

“I do want to make her understand,” he said to the villain, “I wanted her to hurt like me, yes, but I don’t want  _you_  to hurt her.”

“Kitty, Ch-Lynx,” Marinette began, pulling back to look at his face, which was still screwed up as if he were afraid to open his eyes.

“NO!” he shouted, “I won’t do this for you!…I’ve changed my mind…take them back then…if you don’t know already, then why would I tell you?…ARGH!”

Lynx screamed and his body convulsed as he reacted to the pain clearly coursing through his body. Marinette flung her other arm around him too and gently guided him to the ground as his legs started to give way. Her breathing became shallow as she started to panic but she found she had no idea what to do. For the first time since she’d become Ladybug, Marinette felt completely helpless.

She stroked his hair as his screams gave way into dull sobs and she could see tears leak out from the edges of his mask.

“N-no…” he wept, “I w-won’t tell you who w-we are. I’d never t-tell you who she is. And you don’t g-get to know before h-her…”

He screamed again and his clawed hands dug into her skin, leaving red marks. Marinette hissed in pain but continued to stroke his hair and face, making gentle shushing noises which were as much for herself as they were for him.

“You can beat him, Chat,” she told him in a choked voice.

“W-What if – argh! - I do?” he said, shuddering in pain, “I’m not t-transformed. You’ll see – you don’t want…”

“I do!” she said suddenly and Lynx’s head turned towards her voice, although his eyes remained tightly closed, “I’m just scared and being stupid. I love you and I do want to know who you are. Please fight him, Kitty.”

He cried out as another flood of pain seemed to wash through him and Marinette knew she had to ease his torment in any way she could. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. Her face exploded in bursts of pain which felt like the most intense case of pins and needles ever combined with an electrocution, but as she did Lynx’s tightened features relaxed slightly against her lips. She instinctively pulled away in shock at the pain and Lynx whimpered as it once again returned to him.

Marinette immediately began to press firm kisses to his cheeks and nose, every brush of her lips spreading pain down her body, moving from her lips, across her face and into her torso and limbs. She found that the shorter the period of time her lips took to move from one kiss to another, the more she hurt and the more Lynx seemed to strengthen.

She pulled away very briefly to look at his face, eyes closed gently but determinedly now and she pressed their lips together with enough pressure to bruise. The agony was so intense she found it impossible to continue kissing him as her body convulsed and her mind refused to focus on anything but the pain. Instead, her head dropped back as she screamed.

It took several seconds for the screams to ebb away and for Marinette to realise the pain had retreated again. She opened her eyes in panic, determined to go back to kissing him to relieve his convulsions, but instead saw his face was relaxed and a wave of purple magic was moving across his body, starting at his feet and moving upwards to reveal orange shoes at first, followed by jeans.

Marinette watched in fascination as the magic continued to retreat and reverted Lynx back into a panting Adrien Agreste, bright green eyes blinking open and looking at her for the first time since he had been akumatised. A faint glow of purple remained around his wrist before suddenly spawning a perfectly white butterfly which immediately jumped from the lucky charm bracelet it rested on and flew away.

Both teens watched it go for a moment before Marinette’s peripheral vision caught sight of Adrien’s eyes growing wide and worried.

He turned to face her sharply and she looked at him in amazement. The love of her life had turned out to be the  _love of her life_. The boy who had broken her heart was also the boy who had helped her to put it back together again. One boy whom she had loved after only a day of knowing him, and with the other boy it had taken a slow build of friendship for her to realise how she truly felt. And they were one person.

“Wow,” she said.

“Um, yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously, “I’m sorry, um…I-”

“It was you.”

“Yeah, look I know-”

“No, I mean- all this time, you were right there in front of me,” she laughed, “It was you.”

And before Adrien could determine exactly what she meant by that, she had thrown herself forward and knocked him to the ground, connecting their lips together in a passionate kiss which he was quick to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 28: Kiss It Better
> 
> So, there we go! My MariChat May 2017 fic is finally complete. And it only took until August lol.
> 
> I want everyone to know that I have more planned for this. I don’t quite have a plot sorted out yet but I have ideas that I want to explore in the aftermath of this reveal.
> 
> I’ve also gotten a few requests to write scenes from in between the chapters so I might make some extras and publish them on AO3 as well.


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